


Coruscate

by opalescentgold



Category: One Piece
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Explicit Language, F/M, Implied Childhood Sexual Abuse, Intimidation, Paranoia, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Prostitution
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-03
Updated: 2016-01-18
Packaged: 2018-05-04 18:39:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 31,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5344442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opalescentgold/pseuds/opalescentgold
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nakia was a prostitute known for her recklessness and aggression. Really, accepting a job to seduce violent pirates for the sake of an unknown goal from an equally known Surgeon was no trouble at all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Deal with the Devil

**Author's Note:**

> OpalescentGold: I do not own One Piece.

_Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor each morning the devil says "oh crap, she's up!"_

* * *

Trafalgar Law, Surgeon of Death, had a plan that would get him to the very top. He had a plan that would topple a Shichibukai from his throne, a plan that would fulfill a twelve year grudge.

But first, he had to find a way for this plan to go smoothly. Easier said than done, but he was determined that it would happen, no matter what he would have to resort to.

Or who.

Lounging about in the usual shitty bar, Law sipped at his drink, observing the other occupants from a table in the corner that allowed him a full viewpoint of the entire bar, a nice appeal to his paranoia.

After some rather rough fights with a tropical infectious disease, CP7, and a particularly nasty gorilla, his crewmates were taking advantage of the rare break by flirting outrageously with the waitresses, not that the sly, blushing women seemed to mind.

"A refill?" A busty blonde flashed a suggestive smile at the reclusive pirate as she passed by, holding a pitcher.

"If you would, Miss," he replied with a nod and a smirk, holding his glass up for her to replenish.

She did so with a gratuitous bend of her waist, showing off a good amount of cleavage. Law's lazy grin turned faintly predatory, but he didn't accept the implied invitation. Instead, he inquired, "Miss, would you inform me of the attractions on this island?"

The waitress' smile widened. "Of course!" Sliding into the seat across from him, she propped an elbow on the table and cupped her cheek with her hand. "What would you like to know?"

Law leaned back in his seat. "I hear there's an Akasen around here." While not at all uncommon, red light districts in the New World, especially in the calmer waters he was navigating at the moment, were inordinately hard to find, cleverly hidden away from prying eyes.

For all that voracious whirlpools surrounded it, Visp Island was known as unique for their lack of marine interference or even pirate interference, for that matter. Hovering right at the border of Red-Haired Shanks and Big Mom's territory, it was both delightfully inconspicuous and a breeding ground for hedonism and depravity.

Sometimes literally.

A flash of disappointment lit up her eyes, but she wiped it away expertly. "Oh, yes. Was there anything you were looking for in particular?"

"Yeah." Prostitutes were generally deferential and subservient, which he had no problems with under normal circumstances. But those individuals would never survive with a pirate crew in the New World. "I've heard rumors that there is a very…unconventional woman on this island."

"Ah." The waitress nodded wisely, her smile turning a tad strained. "You must be talking about Nakia-san. She's quite infamous around here." From her tone of voice, her personal opinion of the woman she spoke of was not a high one.

"I see. Would you be so kind as to give me instructions to this Akasen?"

Two minutes later, Law was out the door after dropping a word to his three senior crewmates. There was no need to take any of his crew with him on this particular expedition, but if they needed to find him, they'd know where to look.

* * *

Seeing as how Law had once been a part of a pirate crew that ruled over places where great gain could be found at a hefty price, he knew how to structure his visit. Money was the key, as it always was.

His crew had encountered and plundered a trade ship not long ago, which was why he had chosen now to hit the Akasen.

A word here, a wad of beli there, and he knew that Miss Nakia Hexi was considered _the_ black sheep of the island, both envied and feared. She was, according to some frequent residents, 'a real firecracker', 'a damn bitch', 'fucking hot, the dangerous kind of hot', and 'a fucking Ice Queen'.

That was all well and nice, but the part that truly piqued Law's interest was the personal history of violence damn near everyone cautioned him about. Apparently, there was that one time a customer went a step too far.

He had _somehow_ ended up in the hospital.

When questioned, Miss Nakia had claimed ignorance of the entire event.

It wasn't a spectacle that would have received positive interest anywhere else, but this was the Grand Line.

This was the New World.

This was where tough-ass marines and pirates roamed, and while some of those hardened, veteran fighters might want a nice, easy lay, there were just as many who wanted a challenge.

Certainly, the vast majority of Hexi Nakia's clients were by turns criminals and officers, but she didn't lack popularity.

By the time Law had decided to visit, it was midnight. It didn't matter, seeing as most of the goings-on in the Akasen happened in the darkness anyway, the good and the bad.

Strolling along the paved road, his nodachi resting comfortably against his shoulder, he scanned the street. And...right there, according to his most recent source. A purple lantern in the window, signifying this particular brothel was open.

Excellent.

A light knock on the door and a kimono-clad woman with her hair in a fashionable knot greeted him, face painted skillfully. "Ah, honorable sir, welcome to this humble establishment," she said, bowing respectfully.

Law hadn't expected any less. This prostitute was normal by Akasen standards but not at all suitable for what he had in mind. "I hear that there's a Miss Nakia here," he said, the faintest lilt to his tone that suggested a question.

"Hai, Nakia-chan is here. Would you like to spend some time with her this evening?"

It was obvious what she meant by that, but Law didn't see any point in correcting her. "Hai."

"Please follow me, honorable sir."

The brothel wasn't half-bad, really. Cramped and stifled with terrible air-circulation but with an unusual touch of lavish. In contrast to the rest of the very traditionally designed brothel, the room he was given to lounge in while waiting for Hexi was surprisingly contemporary.

Though it was in the classical tatami room design, the effect was nicely understated. Vibrant cushions and pillows littered the space, carelessly thrown on the floor, the blue sofa, the black satin-sheeted bed. Multiple lamps lit up the room, showcasing the warm gold of the walls.

Law took a seat on the sofa, crossing one leg over the other and draping his arms across its back after placing his nodachi next to him. He ignored the cup of tea on the table, content to simply wait.

Here, the air wasn't clouded with the scent of burnt incense or heavy perfume, but rather a light fragrance of bergamot and camellias, exotic and sensual.

The woman who sashayed daringly into the room two minutes later very much became the provocative scent.

Turquoise eyes, hard and gleaming, pined him to the spot immediately, ice-cold intelligence hidden behind slowly simmering heat. Chocolate hair, long and rich, framed high cheek bones and crimson lips. Her dark make-up wasn't in the least bit subtle, but neither was the short black dress that hugged her figure.

She stared lazily at the pirate in her room, no bowing, no hostess talk, an unmistakable challenge in her demeanor.

Not classically beautiful, he thought, not quite, but Law could reluctantly admit he could see this woman's allure to men. But that was hardly why he was here, and so he kept his face blank, meeting her eyes without blinking.

Law didn't lack for self-control, power, or dominance, if that was what she was looking for.

A single slender eyebrow rose slowly, and Nakia sauntered across the room in sky-high black stilettos to take a seat on the edge of the unused bed. Crossing her legs, she rested a hand on her thigh and settled her chin on her palm, giving him a slow look-over, gaze unreadable.

"You're not here looking for satisfaction, Mr. Trafalgar Law," Nakia stated at last. But there was no panic in her smoky voice, not a trace of fear. "Why ask for me?"

Law's smirk widened. "Why do you think, Miss Nakia?"

"Puzzles?" she drawled, appearing more idly curious than concerned.

"Just curious." With the intention of determining just how astute she really was; he didn't tolerate idiots well.

"Hmm...you're not here for entertainment or pleasure. Yet you asked for me by name, so you want something specifically from me. As for what..." She gave a careless shrug. "Why don't _you_ tell me?"

Good enough, Law decided, leaning forward slightly. He was blunt, to-the-point. "I have a one million beli proposition for you."

Nakia went motionless. "I'm listening." For a hooker, it was quite the hefty sum, though not necessary the be all and end all. He was counting on her own covetousness here, along with a certain aptitude for adventure and mischief. Thus far, he hadn't been disappointed.

"I want you to come along with my crew for a time and seduce ten pirate captains for me." A basic pirate crew normally contained more than ten crew members, which would add up to one hundred hearts for him by the time this was over and done with.

To her credit, she didn't flinch, as if this wasn't the most ridiculous request she'd ever been asked of. Perhaps it wasn't. Rather, Nakia considered the proposal calmly. "Why?"

Law had his reasons, but he wasn't going to tell this whore. "I want their hearts for an experiment."

A blink. "Your title is well-earned." The Surgeon of Death, the Dark Doctor, Heart Pirate Captain for a bounty of 425 million beli.

"I assume you're interested?"

Bright red lips curved up into a sly smile. "Elaborate."

Going still, he shot the prostitute a narrow-eyed look. Her evident interest was a good sign for him but... "Miss Nakia, I don't take orders." A whisper of heart-pounding violence in the air, a reminder that she was far from irreplaceable.

She cocked her head to the side. "Elaborate...please?" It came out more mockingly acquiescent than anything else, but he took it with a grain of salt.

"I," he said, "want the hearts of one hundred pirates. However, I see no reason to fight ten captains purely for that purpose. There's also no need for word to spread that I'm taking hearts on the seas." It could spark interest in all the wrong sorts of people, create entirely new obstacles in his path.

"But a pretty whore is entirely harmless and nothing of interest," Nakia continued his train of thought with ease, tapping a dark blue nail against her chin as she deliberated the concept of being easily killed bait.

Law leaned back with a smirk and waited patiently for her to play right into his palm. It was clear that, while intelligent, Nakia was also greedy and selfish, though tempting enough to be convenient enjoyment. Although, he noted, she was jaded as well, more than aware of how the world viewed her and entirely willing to take advantage.

"So one million beli." She sighed, thick eyelashes coming down to veil her expression. "Say I accept this bargain... Are you just going to shove me into bars and hope I make it out with your victim in one piece?"

It was a loaded question, and he knew it. "No. One of my crewmates would accompany you at all times." Law kept his contracts, for the most part. But on that subject, "How strong are you?" It wouldn't do for her to be completely helpless—damsels in distress were a hassle.

"I can take care of myself," Nakia said. "So long as I'm not actually expected to fight these pirate captains myself."

"Not at all. Your job is simply to be the bait. My job is to take care of the pirates." One of Law's hands slipped from the sofa back slightly to touch the hilt of his nodachi. They were all chiefly small fry anyway, easy prey.

A curt nod. "How far do you expect me to go?" she asked next, steepling her fingers together. "Are you paying one million beli for me to have sex with ten pirate captains?"

Law shook his head. Prostitute she might be, even he had his limits of what he would expect this woman to do for money, for him. He knew better than to fight fire with fire, to become a monster to defeat another. "You would not be required to do anything beyond the occasional kiss of distraction." Simple, of no worth.

"I see." A long, charged pause held them both captive, until she said, "I won't be a part of a pirate crew, sweetie."

He quirked an eyebrow, but didn't comment on the phony endearment. "I'm not asking you to join my crew."

Law didn't even _want_ this destructively seductive woman in his crew. It would break the chain of trust, so dangerous, too dangerous. Ironic, that the traits that made her perfect for the job he was offering her were the very traits that made her unsuitable for a nakama.

The gaze she pinned him with was shrewdly assessing. "If, _if,_ I accept this deal, I need you to deny any and all involvement between me and your crew. I have no desire for a bounty on my head."

"Fine." It was the pirates who celebrated new and higher bounties. Civilians normally avoided them, with good reason. If Nakia _did_ obtain a bounty for some odd reason, she would never be able to return to a normal life without a whole deal of trouble.

"I want two million beli," she insisted candidly, no reservoir of caution or reserve in her bearing despite the fact that she was certainly overstepping her boundaries with a deadly pirate who wouldn't hesitate to slit her throat.

He was mildly impressed but narrowed his eyes. Law was no pushover, even though he really didn't care about this share of money. "That's a very expensive price. Why should I pay that much?"

"You're asking me to seduce pirates. Conceivably, any one of them could work out that I'm working for you and tear me limb from limb," Nakia pointed out, tone deadpan. "And that's not even getting into the other dangers of the New World."

It made sense, Law conceded to himself. Add in her most likely weak combat skills, and the journey had to be setting off her survival instincts like hell. Not that he was going to pay that much for a sole prostitute. "One point two million."

"One point eight."

He knew how to haggle, even if he rarely did it, preferring to leave the shopping to his crewmates. "One point four."

"One point six."

"One million and five hundred thousand, final offer," he said flatly.

"...I'd like a room of my own, sweetheart."

In other words, acceptance. Triumph, as always, tasted sweet. "Of course." He had enough room on his submarine, and it would be best for conflicts between his perverted crewmates and this woman to be kept to a minimal.

"With a bathroom."

Law merely nodded graciously. Every woman he had ever met spent an inordinate amount of time in the bathroom, and he certainly didn't need nor want feminine products clogging the drain on the public one.

Nakia eyed him suspiciously like she didn't trust his easy concession. "I assume food, water, clothing, and other commodities will be provided free of charge?"

His smile was amused. "Miss Nakia, I assure you, you will be well taken care of during your stay." It would do him no good to have a broken weapon, now would it? Especially such a problematic one.

"And that stay will be..." She cocked her head, eyebrows raised.

"Around three months, from my calculations."It would honestly depend on how spread out the targets were over the New World and how long the log post would take to set.

"And then you'll bring me back?"

"Of course." Though he had no clue why she would want to come back to this wretched place.

"Spending money each month?"

"Demanding, aren't you?" Then again, if she had been easily cowed, Law would never have singled her out in the first place. Not that it meant he would let her do as she pleased.

Nakia's smile was honey sweet and just as sarcastic. "Just exploring my boundaries."

Law chuckled lowly. "If you're a good girl, fifteen thousand a month."

Her smile turned frosted and lost a good deal of sweetness at the comment, but her question, when it came, was strictly pragmatic. "What are you going to tell the Mother?" Also known as the head of the brothel, the one who technically 'owned' Miss Nakia.

He shrugged carelessly. "I'm a pirate, Miss Nakia. Exactly why should I tell the Mother anything?" No, he would simply steal Miss Nakia away in broad daylight without a single care for the disruption that would cause the Akasen as a whole.

"True, true." Nakia tilted her head back to stare blankly at the ceiling. "Hmm...I wonder how much I'll regret this in the next few months?" Despite her words, there was no whisper of anxiety in her voice.

Law's smirk surely did nothing to dissuade her worries. "So...deal?" He held out a hand.

She sighed, but smiled dauntlessly and shook it firmly. "...deal."

* * *

Hexi Nakia's every instinct told her that Trafalgar Law was _not_ good news. He would use her, chew her up, and spit her out like a worn surgical tool, but his offer had just been too good to refuse. One point five million over the course of three months? When would another opportunity like this come along?

No, she really didn't care if she had to sell her soul to the devil for this.

"Nee-chan!" came the cheerful greeting that dragged her away from the clamor of her mind, and Nakia turned to see one of the younger girls, Daisy, run up to her, flowers streaming from her hair. "Did things go okay?"

She smiled indulgently, a placating expression she had long since perfected. "It went fine, sweetie. Run along now; the Mother will be upset if she sees us loitering." The Mother also had a pair of lungs that she was not afraid of exerting.

Daisy squeaked adorably and ran off, almost tripping. What ever would become of that one? Shaking her head, Nakia entered her room and locked the door behind her, pushing away the worry. She had her own troubles to consider. Placing one hand on her hip, she scanned her place of residence for the past eight years dispassionately.

There was simply no way she was ever coming back to this brothel. The Mother was never going to forgive her for deserting like this. Whatever she wanted to keep, she was going to have to bring with her. Some essentials, certainly. Brazen or not, there was only so far she was going to push the notorious Surgeon.

For now, at least.

Nakia strode up to her cabinet and pulled all the drawers open. Then she glanced at the products on her dressing table. She wasn't going to be able to lug an entire suitcase after her when she left Akasen tomorrow, not without drawing too much attention, so a small satchel would be the limit to what she could take away.

Or a big satchel. Same thing. Sorta. Regardless...

She pushed one hand past the stacks of cheap clothing and dug around until she felt something hard and wooden beneath her seeking fingers. Grasping the frame, Nakia pulled the old picture out and felt herself flinch as a little girl with her parents looked back at her with a wide, _happy_ smile.

It had been a long time since she had been able to smile like that.

Hissing out a breath, Nakia found a satchel and got to work. She was on a time limit after all.

* * *

It was dawn and the vast majority of Akasen were fast asleep, tired out from the activities of last night.

Nakia wasn't, for all that she had been just as busy as everyone else, if not more so.

She strutted down the street in a midnight blue dress and nude pumps. They went _click-clack_ on the sidewalk and she let her heart follow that rhythm lest she start to panic and regret.

Nakia had long since learned that regret was worthless. It wasn't like anyone could turn back time—well, she couldn't, who knew about those devil fruit users—so she might as well move forward.

But _click-clack_ and she was leaving behind her life for nearly the past decade, leaving the Akasen and the brothels and the Mother and the Nee-chan for an utterly unknown and sincerely dangerous stay with the Heart Pirates. It hadn't been a good life by most people's standards, but it had been _her_ life and all she had.

But this would be worth it. It had to be worth it. _Click-clack, click-clack..._

"Nakia-chan!"

She turned to see Ren, an old man whose primary source of income was sweeping the streets, grin toothlessly at her, the lines of his face speaking of a life of agony and happiness both. "Going somewhere, pretty girl?"

Nakia laughed huskily. "Oh, yeah. Here, darling." Reaching into her satchel, she slipped the man a wad of beli, as was custom. Only, this time, the bundle was a bit thicker than normal. "Doing well?"

Deep in her heart, she felt an unexpected prickle of guilt. Ren had been a friend of hers since she had first arrived in the Akasen, and now, she intended to leave him behind without offering him so much as a farewell. But she was coming back in three months or so, she reassured herself. It couldn't be that bad...

Oh, who was she kidding? Leon would be devastated. His wife was dead, his children had left, and he was alone. Just like she was. More guilt assaulted her dying conscience. She was such a terrible person, but she couldn't bring herself to change. It was so much easier to stay the same rather than change into something new and unknown and vulnerable.

Leon chuckled gravelly. "As well as can be, Nakia-chan." A long, knowing look as he counted the money, wise dark eyes searching her face closely. "When you come back, I expect to hear from you, ya hear?"

Oh. Nakia winced, feeling the sweet, obedient girl she had once been curl up in shame inside the depths of her being. He did know. "Hai, hai," she said with a rueful smile.

He laughed, waving a hand. "Good, good. Now, off you go, pretty girl. Have fun and be careful!"

She managed a confident grin, waving back. "Take care of yourself while I'm out, darling! Don't get dealing in those casinos now, and keep away from the liquor!"

"Will do, will do."

Nakia left the Akasen without any more interruptions. Moving into the slums, she walked the dark alleys with an assurance that had grown from experience, ignoring the many desperate eyes that watched her from the shadows. Left here, two alleys down, right here, there we go.

Slipping into an 'abandoned' warehouse, she stood in the center of the empty room and tapped her heel on the ground in a pattern that signaled to the dwellers that she was a friendly. Not long after, two men with dark glasses appeared from the shadows. One of them gestured for her to follow, while the other maneuvered himself so he was at her back.

Nakia wasn't concerned. Incoming attacks were rarely a problem for a natural user of Observation Haki. Of course, simply knowing wasn't enough. If someone like, say, Trafalgar Law, were to attack, she would still end up dead or worse (knowing his reputation, probably worse), but these men weren't a true threat.

The first man led her to an ostensibly respectful mansion right smack in the middle of the slums. It was the local Yakuza base, which was why it was the only building still standing proudly in the area. The others had all been robbed and burnt to the ground.

The man in front of her held open the door for her, glaring behind his glasses until Nakia stepped in. Once she was inside, two more men greeted her impassively, armed with yet more impressive ammo.

Really, it was as if she wasn't a regular visitor. Still, rules were rules. And Nakia, no matter how many times she dropped by, was an outsider. "I'm here to see Raphael," she said with a lighthearted smile that never reached her eyes.

Without a word, the two men turned and directed her up the stairs and to the third room from the left, while the previous two men shadowed her from behind. Nakia ignored them all and knocked three times on the door that held her most precious person and her worst living nightmare.

The man who opened it was a familiar doctor, one with a warm smile and silver glasses and an unfortunate tendency to cut off fingers. "Ah, Nakia-chan. I thought you would be coming to visit soon," Raphael said with an airy sort of confidence, shooing the men away.

"How is she?" Nakia asked, inwardly steeling herself before she stepped inside to be met with the familiar scent of antiseptic and drugs. The only scent that was worse was that of alcohol, but this wasn't far behind.

It was a question she asked every time she came, and Raphael didn't miss a beat as he left for his office, closing the door behind him to give her some privacy. "No change."

She took a deep breath, closing her eyes briefly. And then she moved to sit by her comatose mother's bed, taking her limp hand in her own. Nakia looked at what had once been the most beautiful prostitute of Visp Island with bittersweet nostalgia. Umeko was forgotten by the world now, a faded away memory to everyone but her daughter.

"Hey, Kaa-chan," Nakia whispered, her voice gentle as she tried to keep it even. "How are your dreams? Do you see Tou-san?"

* * *

For the next two hours, Nakia prattled to her unresponsive mother about anything and everything, talking until her voice was slightly hoarse. She didn't dare stop, not when the incessant beeping of the medical machines would remind her that Umeko was barely alive at this point.

Of course, such a state was explicitly better than just dead, as her father, Yuezhi, could probably verify from heaven. Or hell. One or the other. Knowing him, probably hell.

After what felt like an endless monologue, she hesitated before saying, "I'm going to have to leave for a couple of months, Kaa-chan. But I'll be back and when I return, I'll have the money you need for your treatment. So, wait for me, okay? It'll be alright, I promise." Rising to her feet, Nakia leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on Umeko's forehead.

As always, there was no response.

Rubbing a hand over her aching heart, Nakia went to find Raphael. "Here." She handed over several thick wads of beli, the money she had been stashing up for the past three years in case of an emergency. It should have been much more expensive to pay off the Yakuza for medical treatment, but she was an exception.

Raphael flipped through the money, one eyebrow raised. "What's this about, Nakia?"

"I'm going to be gone for three months," she explained with forced casualness. "This is payment."

He leaned back in his chair and took off his glasses to peer at her questioningly, no doubt wondering where the fuck she was going. But Raphael was Yakuza and knew better than to ask, so he said, "Fine. I'll take care of your mother until then."

"You'd better," Nakia said emphatically and grabbed an eternal log pose before she left.

* * *

Law was back in the bar, sipping his drink and watching his crewmates flirt idiotically, when a woman sat down at his table, hanging her bag on the back of her chair. He glanced up and did a startled double take despite himself.

Nakia looked damn near unrecognizable, though those eyes were unmistakable. She had toned down the slutty appearance, and with her hair woven into a side braid, she looked damn close to decent, although the black leggings and towering high heels were pushing it.

A whimsical smile ran along her coral lips. "You look surprised, sweetheart. Wasn't this the meeting spot?"

Law recovered quickly and smiled, perfectly relaxed to all appearances. "It was. I was merely caught off guard by your appearance, Miss Nakia."

"Something wrong with it?" she asked , the slightest edge to her tone.

He was a pirate, not an idiot. "Not at all. You look very nice today."

A pleased, shallow smile was his reward, a viper studying him from those eyes. "Darling, some coconut water please." she requested of a passing waitress, the very same one who had chatted with Law yesterday.

The waitress pursed her lips in what looked like jealousy and turned to give Nakia a vexed response. Or so it seemed until she recognized who it was that had addressed her. "A-Ah! H-Hai, Nakia-san!"

"Famous?" Law recognized the fear that the woman radiated, the near awe.

"I think it's more like infamous," she told him with a tilt of her head. "You should know, shouldn't you, darling?"

Law chuckled, but didn't rise to the bait, saying instead, "Ready to go, Miss Nakia?"

"Sure." She patted her satchel with a careless shrug. "When are we leaving?"

"Five minutes," he stated and then downed his drink in one gulp.

Nakia sighed sadly as her own drink arrived with impressive speed, the waitress no longer lingering around the table as she had the night before. "Sweetie, drinks such as these aren't meant to be wasted."

"Then don't waste it."

She made a face but grabbed her cup and knocked it back like a shot. "Not bad," Nakia commented when she set it back down, throat muscles working.

He smirked and rose to his feet, carrying his nodachi against his shoulder. "Time to leave Visp Island, Miss Nakia." It was just as well. The Heart Pirates had already been here for four days, and Law had been growing restless.

"Mmm." Nakia grabbed her satchel and flung it over her shoulder, getting to her feet as well. "I hear you travel around in a submarine, cutie."

"I do." Law was getting used to her random terms of endearment. He suspected she did it with everyone, just an offhand way of knocking people off their game. "A yellow one."

"Yellow?" She lifted her eyebrows, gaze dipping to his hoodie pointedly. "Favorite color?"

"How'd you guess?"

"Captain, who's this?" Shachi asked, the rest of the dallying Heart Pirates drawing closer upon seeing Law up and ready to go.

"I'll explain back at the sub." He walked towards the door. "We're leaving. Bepo, pay the bill."

"Aye aye, Captain," Bepo said amidst a chorus of disappointed groans.

Nakia blinked. "A talking polar bear?" That was a new one.

"I'm sorry..." Bepo hanged his head, a cloud of doom appearing above him.

"It wasn't criticism, darling," she said, the _click-clack_ of her heels on the wooden floor loud as she followed Law.

"I'm sorry..."

"Don't worry about him," Penguin said with a grin, coming up on Nakia's right side. "I'm Penguin, by the way. He's Shachi—" He pointed to the ginger that had come up on her other side. "—and the polar bear's Bepo."

"Hexi Nakia." She eyed the uniforms warily. "Are those mandatory?" There were some of the most outdated things she had seen.

"Err..." Penguin blinked and exchanged a look with Shachi. "Yes?" It was a pride thing, the boiler suits proclaiming to all and sundry the wearer's allegiance.

Nakia's eyebrow twitched. Oh no, they weren't doing this to her. Some things no girl should endure. "Captain, darling!"

Law paused and partially turned around, ignoring the choking sounds from Shachi and Penguin. "Yes, Miss Nakia?"

She pointed to Penguin's suit and demanded an answer with her eyes.

Law smirked wickedly. "No, you don't have to wear the uniform." It would be a blatant giveaway to her targets, wasn't particularly attractive, and it wasn't like she was technically crew in the first place.

Nakia breathed a sigh of relief, and with the sudden crisis abruptly resolved, the group continued on. It wasn't long before Shachi and Penguin started flirting shamelessly with Nakia, and vice versa.

Law, who remained aloof, was of the opinion that Miss Nakia was playing with them to amuse herself, but it sounded like harmless fun, so he let them be.

"Wow," she said ten minutes later upon arrival, looking up at the submarine with mixed emotions. "You weren't joking when you said it was yellow." It was also very...bright. She normally didn't deal with colors that bright, except in shades of red.

Red went with everything.

Shachi laughed. "You'll get used to it, Nakia-chan. Welcome to Polar Tang."

"Penguin, prepare to submerge. Shachi, gather the crew in the mess hall. Miss Nakia, you're with me," Law commanded, already on the deck.

"Aye aye, Captain!"

"Whatever you say, honey."

Shachi sweatdropped. "Nakia-chan..." She _did_ realize how that made her relationship with the Captain sound, right?

Her smile was just on this side of pure.

* * *

"Everyone here?" Law questioned after walking into the gallery after taking Miss Nakia on a brief tour of the sub. She'd been remarkably well-behaved, but he was willing to bet money that the docile act wasn't going to last, judging by the impish smile as she examined the men who sat around the tables, looking at them with confusion and excitement.

"Yeah." Bepo nodded, munching on some fish that their cook, Actaeon, had cooked up earlier. "I have to go man the sub soon though."

"Who's taking care of it right now?"

"Jean Bart."

"I see." Nodding, Law walked to the front of the mess hall, gesturing for Nakia to follow him. "Alright, listen up, guys!" he shouted, instantly silencing the entire room of chatter. He cocked his head in Nakia's direction. "This, here, is Miss Nakia. She'll be staying with us for the next three months or so."

"Is she nakama?" Kaperin, one of the older members of the crew, shouted out, tone already unpleasant.

"Nah," Nakia answered herself, waving the idea off casually.

A murmur of bewilderment spread through the pirates. Nakama was trust and loyalty and strength, the person who would guard your back in a fight and lug you up when you got shot. If she wasn't nakama...

"What are you then?" Tara, their most recent addition and a young boy of nineteen with a newsboy hat covering his auburn hair and brown eyes, furrowed his brow.

Law felt a trickle of unease go down his spine at the odd half-smile on Nakia's lips. "Miss Nakia—"

"I'm a hired hooker," she declared cheerfully, ignoring Law's attempts to cut her off.

There was one moment of silence that promptly evolved into chaos. Some of the men choked, others fell on the floor, and the remaining ones gaped at her in shock or chagrin. "WHHHHAAAATTT?"

Law sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. That could have been phrased better. Much better. "Miss Nakia, was that necessary?"

Her grin was utterly insincere. "I have no idea what you're talking about, dear."

Naturally, the last word was spoken just as the men were calming down. The mess hall exploded into questions and accusations and 'what-the-hell-is-going-on-ness?' again.

Law scowled at the unrepentant harlot. "Miss Nakia—"

"Captain, is it—are you two—" Penguin motioned frantically to the two of them.

" _No_!" Law spat out, directing a death glare at Penguin, who quickly sunk back down into his seat. Pointedly overlooking Nakia's snickering, he held up a hand until the buzz of noise died down once more, every eye on the rumored 'couple'.

"Now, as I was saying—" He directed a flinty glance at a guiltless-looking Nakia. "—Miss Nakia is here to assist us in obtaining hearts. Nothing more, nothing less." The whole crew knew the plan. Well. Most of it.

"Does that mean we can...?" Shachi perked up excitedly and then wilted under Law's flat look just as his fellow crewmate had moments ago.

"Hmm..." Nakia smiled flirtatiously, adopting a thoughtful pose. "How much are you willing to pay, handsome?"

Shachi vanished from his seat to curl up in his own little corner of woe, crying mute tears of despair. Penguin quickly joined him. Bepo patted them both consolingly on the shoulder.

She laughed, not unkindly. "I'll take that as a no."

Law resisted the urge to roll his eyes, feeling the beginnings of a headache throb in his temples. "Miss Nakia is off-limits," he decreed, ignoring the way his women-deprived nakama's faces fell.

After all, Hexi Nakia remained an unknown factor, and all unknown factors needed to be strictly controlled. He was hardly going to give her a chance to influence his crewmates, and Nakia was assuredly the type of femme fatale who would lead a man around by the balls as soon as he slept with her.

"Am I to take this to mean that I should be abstinent for the next three months?" Nakia asked in a teasing whisper meant for his ears alone.

Law twitched. "Unless she gives a direct invitation _without_ the influence of money," he amended to her disappointed pout.

"Fine, fine." Nakia accepted defeat gracefully, gaze sliding towards the entrance. "You said something about me having a room of my own, didn't you?"

He grunted, turning back to the room of curious, gossipy pirates. "Questions?"

A chorus of negatives answered him, though more than one pair of eyes lingered on Nakia with interest and curiosity, both positive and negative.

"Then dismissed," Law commanded curtly, heading for the door himself. "Miss Nakia, this way."

"Coming, honey-pie."

The Heart Pirate Captain could only sigh as the mess hall erupted into very loud stage whispers. "Would you _stop that?_ "

Nakia just giggled remorselessly.

* * *

Sighing, Nakia closed the door behind her, hit the lock, and took in the expanse of her new room. It wasn't all _that_ bad, she admitted grudgingly to herself, especially considering some of the rooms she had seen the Yakuza force upon some of their unlikable clients in the past.

There was a small bed in the corner with navy blue bedding, a lamp atop a wooden bedside table, a chest of drawers, and a circular shaped window above the bed that showed only the darkness that she guessed was from deep sea waters. The connected bathroom wasn't very impressive, either, but she would take it.

Though she did make a note to ask Trafalgar Law for the money he had promised so that she could buy some decorations; the place was deplorably barren. It needed some gleam, some light, some nice glitter.

Snickering at her ridiculous thoughts, Nakia walked back to stand at the edge of her bed and threw down her satchel on top of it. It wasn't difficult to unpack, seeing as she hadn't exactly been able to bring a lot. Yanking open the satchel, she dumped everything on top of the bed and got to sorting.

Let's see: clothes in the drawers, make-up on the sink, towels flung over the shower cubicle, jewelry on top of the chest, picture... Nakia paused and pursed her lips. She had seen the way some of the Heart Pirates had looked at her. Most with enthusiasm, a few with lust, and one or two with revulsion.

It wasn't anything new, but back in the Akasen, no one other than the Mother would have dared to go into her room and search her belongings. And the Mother had known of her past, so it hadn't mattered then. Here, she was right smack in the middle of a pirate crew, all of whom did not trust her and had no presumably moral compunctions against going through her stuff.

So, where would she hide this little piece of her heart?

Nakia bit her lip, taking no notice of the lipstick she was smudging, and, after a moment, smirked devilishly. She took the picture frame apart and slid the picture out. Grabbing two sheets of tissue paper, she wrapped the picture up to prevent any scratches or tears.

Taking an un-opened pad, she carefully ripped apart the covering and covered the tissue-protected picture with the night pad. Once she was done, she put the pad right back inside the covering and re-packaged it. Then, she put it back with her other feminine products.

She was with an all-male crew. They would never know!

Evil plan completed, she covered another yawn and went off to brush her teeth. By the time she had finished her nighttime routine—though normally it was done just as dawn broke and it was barely noon at present—Nakia was half-asleep.

Collapsing onto the surprisingly comfortable bed, she undid her hair and snuggled up into the blankets. Nakia wasn't used to being awake at this hour, but the new sleeping schedule was something else she was going to have to get accustomed to

Alongside with living with a pirate crew and taking orders from a certain Surgeon.

Then again, she wasn't strictly speaking a part of his crew, so, she should have some leeway. Nakia smirked, rubbing her hands together gleefully. Oh, this would be _fun_. But only if she survived in the treacherous world she had chosen to throw herself into.

She considered that downer thought for a moment, but shrugged it off. The Captain _had_ said that she was off-limits, so sexual assault was probably out of the picture, assuming he could keep his crew in check. Psychological assault would be a certainty, but that would be nothing she hadn't encountered before.

As for physical assault, well, she would think of it as training if it was dealt to her, Nakia resolved. She knew enough about first-aid to treat herself if it came down to it. If it was anything worse, the Captain was a doctor, wasn't he? Should everything else fail, she could always steal his supplies.

Granted, it was always possible she would already be a corpse by then...

Nakia hissed out a breath and closed her eyes, one hand sliding underneath her pillow to touch the cold hilt of the dagger she had hidden there for reassurance. _'Stop it!'_ she reprimanded herself. _'I'm not going to be a victim of circumstance, not now, not ever.'_

Not again. Not if she could help it.

* * *

Shachi didn't really know what to think of the crew's recent, err, not-nakama, but resident...prostitute? He didn't even know anymore; things were all jumbled up now. No one had seen fit to give him the right terminology for this circumstance.

On one hand, Nakia was a hot, flirty woman who was the only female on the sub. She seemed nice enough and happened to be mischievous and brave enough to tease his intimidating Captain, which was a rare trait and one Shachi could totally bond with.

On the other hand, Nakia was also a literal hired call girl, one Law had privately said to not trust. She was only with them for money, and if she was the type of gal to sell her body for money, who was to say she wouldn't sell _them_ out for money?

So, yeah, he was kinda conflicted about Hexi Nakia, but that didn't stop him from blinking and asking about her when she didn't show up for breakfast the next morning. For now, she was one of them. Somewhat.

"Nakia-chan?" Penguin frowned, glanced around. "I don't know where she is."

"She's new, right?" Bepo piped up. "Maybe she doesn't know where the mess hall is?"

"Hmm." Shachi rubbed his chin. "Should I go and get her?"

 _'Plus...'_ The mechanic's inner pervert grinned. _'I might be able to see Nakia-chan all sleepy and cute!'_

"Don't."

Years of experience kept Shachi from jumping out of his skin and shrieking like a little girl when Law appeared from practically nowhere, sitting in his seat with a lazy smirk. Instead, he twitched and asked, "Why not, Captain?"

"Miss Nakia is from the Akasen," Law reminded them with a swig of coffee, reaching for some onigiri to munch on. "She's used to sleeping in the day and entertaining at night. It'll take time for her to adjust to doing the opposite."

"Oh, right." Penguin nodded in understanding, inhaling his pancakes down at hyper speed. "Say, Captain?"

"Hn?"

"You don't trust Nakia-chan, right?"

"No, I don't."

"Then why hire her?"

Law simply smirked. "She'll be useful, wouldn't you agree?"

* * *

A few minutes before lunch was ready to be served, Shachi cocked his head and said, "She's still not up?"

"Nah." Penguin shook his head, plate already piled high.

"Is this healthy?"

"Probably not."

"Shachi, go wake Miss Nakia up," Law ordered with an impatient sigh on his lips as soon as he entered the mess hall. Apparently, he planned to help her 'adjustment' phase along now. "Try not to get yourself slapped. I hear she does that a lot." He smirked evilly, probably anticipating her reaction.

Shachi gulped and went off to meet his fate, feet dragging. Why did it feel like Captain was sending him to the gallows?

* * *

They had hot water.

Freaking hallelujah. If they hadn't, Nakia might have had to put some effort into staging a revolt.

She closed her eyes and leaned her head back so the spray could hit her neck. The tiny shower cubicle really couldn't match up to the baths that she could take back in the Akasen, but that was merely a preference she'd have to endure at this point.

Shampooing her hair with the bottle that she had brought along purely because she had been of the belief that the Heart Pirates would not conveniently have her favorite shampoo stocked up—surprise, surprise, they hadn't—Nakia yawned and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

It was probably around noon, but she wasn't certain, considering she didn't have a clock in her bunker of a room. With her small window showing her nothing but darkness, she couldn't find the sun, either. Yet another thing to add to her to-do list. It was growing spectacularly.

The relaxing scents of bergamot and camellias filling the air, Nakia was washing the soap off her body when the knock came. She blinked, adding another item to her list. She had left her robe back in the brothel, a nice gift from a sugar daddy of hers.

Nakia mentally plotted to toy with Law by buying an exceptionally expensive robe to make up for it.

Hey, she had never claimed she was a saint. Not that anyone with any shred of intelligence would have believed her.

* * *

Shachi was about to knock for the third time, sadly resigning himself to being slapped, when the door was wrenched open.

'Nakia-chan, its lunchtime,' was what he wanted to say. What actually came out was something along the lines of, "Nakia-chan, wha... _oh_...uh... _wow_..."

Nakia raised a eyebrow at him, thankfully looking more amused than pissed off that he had caught her in a less-than-appropriate state. She was only covered by a short towel wrapped loosely around her body, and it was clear that he had interrupted her shower. Water droplets dripped off the ends of her hair, her skin glistening in the dim light.

Her face was thoroughly free of make-up, although it wasn't like she was ugly without it. Still, she looked so very different from the woman Shachi had talked with yesterday, all sexy flirting and calculating smiles. He could see the slender curve of her shoulders, the delicate line of her collarbone, the upper slopes of her breasts, her long legs...

It would really only take the barest tug for that towel to fall to the floor.

"Something you need, cutie?" she prompted with a playful smile when poor Shachi remained speechless.

He flushed crimson, somehow holding back an oncoming nosebleed through sheer shock. "Uhh, yeah. Captain wants you to come eat." Though, Shachi wouldn't mind eating _her_ at the moment.

"Lunchtime?"

"Mm-hm!" Shachi nodded so hard his hat almost came off. His inner pervert was already near catatonic with bliss.

Nakia flashed a teasing grin. "Come back in thirty minutes, honey. I don't know my way around this labyrinth yet."

And with that, she slammed the door in his face.

* * *

Law looked up with a raised eyebrow when Shachi trekked back into the mess hall with a glazed look in his eyes and wobbled around like he was drunk.

"You don't look you were slapped," he commented, noting the absence of red marks on Shachi's cheeks, aside from his vibrant blushing.

Penguin took one look at his best friend and chortled loudly. "Dude, what happened to you?"

Shachi collapsed in his chair and gazed blankly at the wall, drooling a bit. Penguin and the recently-arrived Bepo exchanged a glance. Bepo held up two paws in front of Shachi's face and clapped them together thunderously.

"Huh? Wha—OW!" Startled, Shachi jolted himself right off of his seat, landing on the floor with a thump. Penguin roared with laughter while Bepo grinned and Law smirked. Grumbling to himself, he rubbed his ass, glaring at his unsympathetic friends. "Very funny."

"It was," Penguin agreed, chortling.

"What happened?" Bepo asked, picking at his fish.

"Ahhh..." Shachi immediately elapsed back into erotic daydreams.

Law narrowed his eyes, smirk turning threatening. "Shachi, I did mention that Miss Nakia is off-limits, right?" It only took a second for Penguin to catch on, unnecessary interest brightening his face. Bepo merely tipped his head to the side, more into his fish.

"Eeeh? Ah, no, no, no!" Shachi flailed his arms in front of him, eyes wide with panic. "That's not what happened at all!"

"Then, what did happen?" Penguin questioned, sidling up to his fellow mechanic to smirk slyly.

"I—she—" Shachi glanced at Law and decided he wasn't getting out of this. His shoulders slumped, face flaming even redder. "She was taking a shower."

Penguin cracked up, pounding the table wit his fist. Bepo blinked, attention momentarily diverted from his fish. And Law... Law arched a single, pointed eyebrow that perfectly conveyed how very not amused by this he was.

"It wasn't on purpose, I swear!" Shachi squeaked, sensing the dangerous vibes emanating from his Captain "It just...happened!" Oh, so many of life's events seemed to follow that route.

"Aw, man!" Penguin wiped the tears from his eyes. "Did you get a good look at least?"

Shachi's dreamy sigh was answer enough, stars twinkling around his head.

Law shook his head in resignation, more than used to his nakama's perverted antics. "And why isn't Miss Nakia here now?"

"Oh. She said I should come back in thirty minutes." Shachi paused. "Wait, why would she need thirty minutes to get dressed?"

His friends could only shrug. It wasn't like they knew either.

* * *

Exactly thirty minutes after he left, Shachi knocked twice on Nakia's door once more.

This time, she opened it within a minute and blinked at him, dragging a brush through unruly curls. "One sec, sweetie," Nakia said, ducking back into her room. True to her word, she was back out again in no time, brush gone and a smile on her now red lips. "Lunch?"

Shachi grinned back, taking a nice long look at Nakia. "Lunch." She wasn't wet anymore, more damp than anything else, and she was wearing a smoking-hot white lace dress with an impressive V-neck and sky-tall stilettos.

He could absolutely see why Captain had chosen her as bait for his future victims, though it made it all the more awful that she was off-limits. At least flirting was still on the table, even if that flirting was probably never going to go anywhere.

"Sleep well?" Shachi asked.

Nakia chuckled, reaching up to twirl her hair into a messy bun and secure it with a hair tie. "Sure I did, darling." She batted her eyelashes at him, eyes outlined and enhanced with some obscure black make-up. "Bed was cold."

"Don't worry, Nakia-chan, I'd be glad to warm it up anytime you give the word." Shachi winked.

"I'll keep that in mind." Both of them were aware that the banter was just that; Shachi would never betray his nakama in such a way. "What do you do on the sub, darling?"

"I'm a mechanic," he explained, turning left. "So is Penguin."

"You two are good friends?"

"Yeah. Me and Pen and Bepo make up the senior members of the crew, so if you need something and Captain isn't available, you can ask us."

Shachi and Nakia talked all the way down to the mess hall. She was the charming, engaging honeytrap she was meant to be, and yet, he couldn't help but think that there was something missing that had been in the Nakia earlier.

A sense of honesty, perhaps. Just a tad more real.

Weird.

* * *

The second Nakia and Shachi walked into the mess hall, the place went deathly silent.

She was half-tempted to take a pin out and drop it. No, no, damn it, she had to pretend to be nice...

Instead, Nakia plastered a beatific smile on her face and said lightly, "Cat got everyone's tongue?" Quiet as it was, she knew everyone heard her.

Shachi snickered. "Must be an awesome cat."

"Shut up, Shachi," a middle-aged man with black hair and suspicious hazel eyes growled. His two-part mohawk bobbed a bit, his beard unruly.

"You shut up, Kaperin," Shachi responded, but there wasn't any real heat in it. "Nakia-chan, over here."

He led her to a small circular table already occupied by those Shachi had described as the senior members of the Heart Pirates. And the Captain, of course, but that was expected.

There was an empty seat between Law and Shachi, and she knew that was where she was meant to sit.

She wasn't so stupid as to take this placement as an honor. No, this was a sign of wariness, a reminder that she was a wild card who needed to be restrained, and she couldn't ever forget that eyes were always watching to make sure she behaved.

Damn it, she hated being the "good little girl."

Nakia sat where she was supposed to sit and crossed her legs, brushing an errant strand of hair behind her ear with the full motive of diverting conjecture into desire. Desire was so much easier to handle, after all, even if it was also much more distasteful.

"Darling, how are you?" she asked Law, taking note of the way everyone around her twitched with satisfaction.

"Fine," he said curtly. "Miss Nakia, I'll need to do a medical examination of you after the meal."

Given how blunt the statement was, it took every fiber of her being not to react visibly. Nakia wasn't at all certain about the Surgeon of _Death_ doing a medical examination of her but smiled and nodded regardless.

She doubted she was going to get much of a choice in the matter anyhow.

"Come on, Nakia-chan." Penguin grinned at her, jerking his thumb towards a door that she suspected led to the galley. "Food's back there."

Friendly. Maybe, these pirates would be courteous and respectful until she gave them reason to behave otherwise. They would then probably strap her onto their Captain's operation table and leave her to his nonexistent mercy.

Lovely.

Nakia grinned back trustingly and said, "Great! I'm hungry."

* * *

Miss Nakia was being surprisingly quiet, Law thought to himself as he walked down the hallway, the only other sound being the ever present noise of her high heels.

She had been pointedly social during lunch, flirting with Shachi and Penguin—who had both thoroughly enjoyed it, the perverts—while making conversation with him and Bepo.

Actually, talking to Bepo mostly.

The few times she had spoken to him had been teasing and half-mocking and assessing. However, maybe Law shouldn't be one to judge, seeing as his responses had been the exact same, if a drop more cutting and rude.

After all, this was _his_ submarine, _his_ domain, and _he_ obviously had the advantage.

There was also the fact that in a fight, he would destroy her, but that meant nothing in a battle of wits.

Finally reaching his operating theatre, he turned and held the door open for Nakia, smirking blandly. If she was uneasy at having him at her back (as she should be), she didn't show it, merely smiling back and setting foot in the chamber most people never left.

"On the table, Miss Nakia," Law instructed, moving around the room with the ease of familiarity. He snapped on white medical gloves, picked up a clipboard, and grabbed a sheet reserved for new crewmates.

Nakia wasn't one, but she would be staying with the Heart Pirates for three months and would most likely need to be patched up by him often.

"Mmkay." To his surprise, Nakia proceeded to kick off her high heels and fling herself onto the operating table face-down, showing no sign of any discomfort even though he knew for a fact that the tables weren't comfortable.

Things clicked when she rested her face on her folded arms, closed her eyes, and covered a yawn.

Law smirked, walking forward until he was peering down at her, one eyebrow raised, "Tired, Miss Nakia?" It wasn't surprising. She might currently be awake, but she was still going against her circadian rhythm.

Nakia peeked open her eyelids a fraction, peering up at him through her lashes, "'Course. But don't worry, I won't fall asleep. I'd hate to wake up to find you riffling through my organs."

He chuckled. "You know me so well already." Picking up a pen, he started to fill out the form. Law already knew her name, her gender, so, "Birthday?"

"August 7th."

"Blood type?"

"F."

Good, plenty of crewmates had blood type F. It would have been a problem if she had been a rare blood type, like S. "Age?"

"Twenty-four."

It was younger than he had anticipated, especially given her evident experience, but Law had known far more dismal happenings than a prostitute only a year younger than he was and carried on without missing a beat. "Allergies?"

"Pollen and mustard."

He made a note to talk to Actaeon about the foods Miss Nakia could not consume. "Drugs?"

"None."

"Alcohol?"

A beat. "No addiction."

"Medications?"

"None."

"Past incidents?"

Nakia paused for a moment, brow furrowing. It was a long enough hesitation that Law looked up with a slight frown. "There was an incident in my childhood," she said at last. "Broken ribs and punctured lungs."

His frown deepened. "Cause?" Law had an idea, but...

"Blunt force trauma." If her voice was any more apathetic, he would have thought she was entirely unaffected by this so-called 'accident', but Nakia's eyes blazed, bore into his own, fucking daring him to push further.

Law didn't. He knew enough about life as an akasenko, a child of the Akasen, to know that whatever had led up to the incident wouldn't have been pretty. "Current complications?"

"High sex drive and alcohol tolerance," she said dryly.

He resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow at the bullshit answer. "I'll take care not to get in a drinking contest with you then. Diseases?"

"None at present."

"Sit up," Law ordered. When she obeyed, he reached for the stethoscope and checked on her heart and lungs; if her lungs had once been punctured, it would be best to keep an eye on them. "Breathe in. Breathe out. Again...in, out. In...out. Deeper."

A minute ticked by. Then, another.

"Normal," he proclaimed at last, backing up to remove the stethoscope and reach for the sphygmomanometer. She wasn't wearing long-sleeves so he simply wrapped the cuff tightly around her upper arm and began to inflate it.

Just to be a bastard, Law pumped more air than was necessary, enough that it must have caused a twinge of pain.

And then he observed her reaction. Or lack thereof.

Nakia didn't flinch, didn't so much as bat an eyelid. Instead, she locked eyes with him, cocked her head to the side marginally, and smiled a smile that screamed of being an indisputable challenge.

He smirked in satisfaction and released the pressure in the cuff to let the equipment measure blood pressure. "118/74 mm Hg. Normal." Unstrapping the cuff, Law put the sphygmomanometer away. "Blood test coming up."

"Mmm." She hummed low in her throat, eyes falling to half-mast though she continued to watch him. Smart woman, notwithstanding that if Law had wanted to hurt her, there would have been nothing that she could have done to stop him.

Law pierced her skin with the syringe and didn't bother drawing the pain out this time. As he watched the dark red liquid fill up the vial, he told her, "I'll have Penguin test out your combat capabilities tomorrow. The New World isn't a walk in the park."

"I never expected it to be," came the tart response. "I assume that after the assessment, someone will be assigned to fix up any holes found?"

He fought a grin and didn't verbally answer. Removing the needle from her arm, he gave her a cotton ball to staunch the bleeding and set the vial aside. "Here." Law handed her a plain bandage and took the bloody cotton ball.

"Up," he ordered shortly. "I need to take your weight and height." Nakia sighed but jumped off the table. Not bothering to put her shoes on, she stepped on the scale.

"53 kilograms and 172 cm," Law noted. "That's slightly underweight."

Nakia's smile was somewhat bittersweet. "Comes with the territory, sweetheart."

"I don't care," he said bluntly. "You need to eat more." And since she was going to be eating at his table for the time being, Law would be able to keep an eye on her intake. "Eating disorders?"

"None. The Mother just liked to limit dessert. And meals."

Law scowled, but didn't comment on the unhealthiness of such a practice. Sitting down on his swivel chair to peer at her over the back, he glanced at his paper. "Almost done. Last menstrual cycle?"

If he had expected her to blush and splutter, he would have been disappointed. "One week ago."

"Birth control?"

Nakia smiled craftily. "Condoms, darling. Condoms."

Law kept his face blank and hastily moved on. "Ever had surgery?" It was a useless question, one that he already knew the answer to.

That smile didn't falter, but turned sharp as a blade. "Once."

"Troublesome family history?"

"None."

Law glanced up, pinned her with a look that said he knew that answer had been too fast, too soon, but didn't push. It wasn't like she would be under his care long enough that it mattered.

She would be gone in three months. Maybe less if she was weaker than he thought.

Instead, he placed the completed form inside a folder and stood up. "You're done. We hit the next island in four days. Your first mark is there. Be ready."

An odd smile on her lips, Nakia slipped her feet into her high heels. At the door, she turned back and gave a mock two-fingered salute. "Will do, sweetheart."

As soon as she was gone, Law pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed futilely. How the hell had he ended up with such a troublesome woman under his command?

* * *

 _Sometimes, there is no next time, no time-outs, no second chances. Sometimes it's now or never._ — _Alan Bennett_


	2. Like a House of Cards

_You will never know your limits until you push yourself to them._

* * *

Nakia was annoyed.

She was facing Penguin in the training room, but they hadn't started yet, so that wasn't the issue.

Her lacy white top, skinny jeans, and the high, tight ponytail she had twisted her hair into were fine, for all that everything was so much more conservative than what she was comfortable with.

No. The hateful thing was her shoes.

Who in the world wore five cm heels, combat-appropriateness be damned? The only reason she had consented at all was because she knew that Shachi, Bepo and Trafalgar Law, all seated cheerfully a few steps away, were going to be _judging_ her.

Not exactly a test she could afford to fail. But, hey, no pressure, right?

Right. Moving on...

Her _shoes_.

At least her opponent wasn't particularly frightening. Penguin grinned at her without the slightest sliver of malice, although, as a senior crewmate, he had to be one of the strongest pirates on the yellow submarine. "Ready, Nakia-chan?"

"If I say no, am I going to get out of this?" she shot back, working at calming her frantic heart. It had been a while since she had been challenged to an honest, brutal fight, been this far out of her comfort zone.

Still, Nakia had been in other high-stress situations lately and walked out in one piece.

Case in point, a stupid deal with a certain Surgeon of Death. One whose eyes she could almost feel drilling a hole into her.

Penguin laughed. "Sorry but nah, don't think so."

She smiled wryly. "Might as well go ahead then."

"You got it. Dodge!" With that, Penguin ran forward, his right leg already swinging through the air.

But Nakia had bent at the waist a bare second before he had even started to move.

To be born with Observation Haki had its uses and drawbacks, but sensing attacks was most definitely a pro. It wasn't exactly a hereditary trait, which meant her parents had never understood their child's strangeness.

However, in addition to being wonderful, Umeko had been a resourceful woman. She'd also been a prostitute, a good one more than able to handle both pirates and marines, and she had been able to learn all _sorts_ of things from pillow talk.

Nakia had never needed to learn how to utilize it, not when it was pure, raw instinct, but she had required concentration to suppress it when she became of age.

Observation Haki was a rather odd weakness in the world of hookers and whores, but the lecherous thoughts and feelings of some of the creeps that came around the Akasen could be mind-scarring in the worst and permanent way.

Penguin followed up the roundhouse kick with a sequence of kicks and punches that Nakia evaded. Sometimes easily, sometimes not-so-easily, but the vast majority of his attacks came nowhere near her.

Not that there weren't any tight spots. No, that would have been entirely too easy.

Muttering a curse under her breath, Nakia slid into a perfect split—Penguin whistled loudly—to dodge a kick that would have hit her jaw. Prostitution truly did _wonders_ for flexibility.

Getting to her feet with a handstand that conveniently got her out of the way of a punch, she flipped backward four times. She wanted out of his range, and she wanted to _stay_ out of his range, thank you very much.

From there, Nakia twirled, leaped, and cursed her way around every meter of the training room, only skirting various training equipment and the three watching Heart Pirates.

It probably looked like a very awkward dance to them, seeing as she was leading Penguin around on an admittedly odd chase, their movements eerily synchronized. She honestly couldn't be bothered

The barest edge of a boot brushed by her upper arm as she did a back handspring, brown hair flying everywhere. Needed to a get a haircut one of these days. Punch—down, lower right; kick—back and to the left. Punch, kick, punch, punch—

Backing up with one last punch, Penguin called out, "Okay, that's enough for now." He straightened up, hooting playfully. "Damn, Nakia-chan, you're not half bad."

 _Easy for you to say_ , she thought wryly, knowing full well he had been holding back. A _lot._ In fact, he wasn't even winded, and although she was used to pleasing more clients than the men currently in the room, she was feeling rather tired, just from this.

Not for the first time, Nakia regretted not being born a pampered princess with a completely healthy mother and a father who wasn't an absolute bastard.

"Thanks. What's next?"

"Attack me," he said with a wicked smirk, tone just a tad too eager given what he was asking. When she gave him a _look,_ Penguin chortled and held up his hands. "Come on, I might even stay still for you!"

"So chivalrous," she mocked, shifting her stance slightly. Offense, huh? She was terrible at offense. "Will you let me hit you, too?"

Penguin winced. "Sorry, Nakia-chan, no can do. If I let you bust my ass, the others will never let me live it down."

"Poor baby."

All she got was an 'aw shucks' grin and a 'come hither' quirk of his finger. "You going to move or what?" His tone was oh so antagonistic.

Nakia sighed.

She pushed off from the ground in the blink of an eye, performing a triple full layout flip in mid-air to vault over Penguin and land behind him. He moved with her easily, spinning around with plenty enough time to block her kick.

He laughed. "Yeah, just like that."

She flashed a faux sweet smile and began to _move_. Nakia didn't hit where he was; she hit where he was going to be, not that she came anywhere close to hitting him anyway.

"That really shouldn't be possible," Penguin commented when she did a front aerial and almost scored a strike on his chest. "You sure you're a civilian?"

Alright, that just pissed her off. Time to switch tactics.

"Sure it is," she said brightly, trying to punch his right arm.

"How?" He took two steps backward.

"Kaa-chan had me doing yoga exercises since I was able to walk," Nakia supplied helpfully, trying to hit his lower leg with a kick.

"Why the hell would anyone do that?" Penguin furrowed his brow, confused.

"She expected it to come in handy when I matured."

It took Penguin a few, long seconds to get the full meaning of that statement, though, from the coughing sounds in the corner, Shachi had understood it before his best friend. These poor innocent souls.

When it finally did dawn on him, Penguin choked and almost tripped over his own feet. "Why—how—the _hell—_?"

Nakia kicked him straight in the solar plexus.

Penguin gasped, bending over. He rapidly jumped back to create some distance between them, and she let him, seeing as beating him black and blue wasn't the point here.

When he recovered at last, he pinned her with a mock glare and pointed an accusing finger at her. "Cheater!"

She smiled innocently and held up her hands. "Sorry, sorry. I didn't expect you to react so badly."

Penguin rolled his eyes. "Riiiight... Moving on, let's get to the actual fighting!" He grinned, rubbing his hands in a way that was profoundly disturbing.

Nakia raised an eyebrow, uneasy but not willing to let it show. "What's that?"

"The defense and offense combined!" He took a combat position, that excited grin widening at the nonexistent enthusiasm on her face. "Ready?"

"You just want to get back at me for the teasing your crewmates will put you through," she deadpanned.

"Yup!" Penguin confirmed without pause, eyes twinkling. "Ready, set, go!" And then he went at her, no playing around now.

Nakia sighed once again and tried to keep up. Which was not easy, really, since he seemed hell-bent on smacking her around like a sports ball, but a girl could try.

It would have been a stretch to say she was holding her own; it was more like she wasn't getting beaten as badly as she could have been. Oh, the joys of a life of piracy.

"No bruises on the face," she scolded when he aimed a fast, hard punch at her jaw and forced her to spin away to avoid it. "Or the neck, shoulders, and legs."

Penguin pouted. "You're no fun." He pulled a kick right before it would have hit her hard in the stomach, then whirled under a high kick of her own. "Why not?"

"A purple bruise is hard to hide, sweetie, even with concealer." She bent over rearwards to avoid a jab, managing to place her palms on the ground so that she could come back up in a backward cartwheel.

"That's _not_ normal," he maintained, brushing her upper arm with a roundhouse kick.

"So mean." Nakia sighed mournfully. "What's after this?"

"Know how to use any weapons?" Penguin smirked, blocking a punch meant for his gut.

"I did bring three daggers." She took a blow to her right side but was mobile before the pain could affect her. Not that a hit of that caliber could; her tolerance was quite high.

A confused look, followed by a shoulder tap when she tried to get in under his guard. "Why do you have daggers in the first place?" Unspoken but not unheard was the meaning of 'prostitute' hidden underneath the question.

Nakia smiled impishly. "Some like it rough, or didn't you know?" This time, she didn't quite hold back when Penguin stumbled, hitting him with a kick to the chest that sent him flying across the room.

"Nakia-chan!" Penguin protested when he got back on his feet, disgruntled.

"Sorry." She wasn't sorry at all.

"That's enough," came the abrupt and unexpected order from the Captain, effectively ending the examination spar. They both froze, heads snapping around to stare at him, and got nothing more than a blank face back.

True be told, barely two days in, and she was tired of that look.

* * *

 _'I can take care of myself,'_ Nakia had said to Law when he had inquired about her combat capabilities, followed up with her belief that fighting the small fry that she would be targeting head-on would be too much.

He found himself echoing that assessment. Hexi Nakia was far from the best hand-to-hand combat fighter he had ever seen, but neither was she the worst, especially for a supposed civilian with no major battles to her name.

Strong in defense, weak in offense, good with flexibility and psychological distractions; she had her flaws, but she'd also showed much more promise than she had led him to believe she would.

Her style of attack would certainly need work, as would her strength, but overall, she wouldn't be utterly helpless in the event of an unexpected ambush.

"Cool down," he said to the two. "I've seen enough."

Nakia's smile was a soft, sly one, as was her sigh. She stretched languidly, tension leaking out of her form. "Water, darlings?"

Bepo tossed her a water bottle that she caught automatically. Shachi grinned, offering her a thumbs-up. "Nice job, Nakia-chan! You kicked Pen's ass twice!"

"Shut up, Shachi!" Penguin snapped back gloomily. Holding back or not, it didn't change the fact that Nakia, an inexperienced civilian, had gotten two good hits on Penguin, the veteran pirate. "She cheated!"

"I didn't know there were rules in our fight," Nakia said mildly. "You definitely didn't outline them for me."

"She's right," Law cut in, crossing his arms. "In a real fight, there are no rules. Penguin, it was your own fault you got distracted."

Penguin brooded pathetically before perking up as a thought struck him. "Hey, Nakia-chan, how'd you do that dodging thing? It was like you knew what I was going to do before I did it!"

There was a moment of silence while everyone, including Penguin himself, realized what it was he had just said, and Nakia just smiled in amusement as she confirmed the suspicion in everyone's mind, "Observation Haki, honey."

"You can use it?" Law asked, quite intrigued. Personally, he was still working on employing Observation Haki, although he was miles ahead of his crewmates. Armament Haki came to him a lot easier.

"I was born with it, sugar."

He was reluctantly impressed at her sheer luck. "Can you use the others?"

"Armament and Conqueror Haki? No, no idea," Nakia admitted without hesitation.

Law wasn't surprised. "How strong is your Observation Haki?"

Her look was blatantly and unashamedly evaluating. "My current range would probably be the size of this submarine. As for potency...I dodged all of the cutie's moves, didn't I?"

Penguin looked torn between blushing at being called "cutie" and sulking because of her actual words. He managed to do both in a superb turnabout. "What about during the fight? I got you plenty of times then."

"That's because I had to actually try and hit you." Nakia pouted. "If I had been allowed to leave out offense entirely, you would never have been able to touch me. Or at least until I got tired."

Law interrupted before the two could work themselves into a full-blown argument, "It looked like you had some combat training in the past." It hadn't been _good_ training by his standards, and it had been rusty, unsuitable, but the signs had been there.

"When I was young." She sipped at her water.

"Alright, Bepo's going to be in charge of training you," Law said, watching the two exchange a glance. While it was all good and well that Nakia was excellent at knocking human males off their game, it wouldn't do for her training to be affected by it. Bepo was a polar bear, couldn't be tempted by what he didn't understand.

"Then we're done today?" Nakia covered a yawn, pulling out her hair tie. Her rich brown strands fanned out in light curls behind her. "I want to take a shower."

Considering the rather distracting visual of her already tight shirt sticking to her skin, Law agreed. He hadn't missed the looks his mechanics had been shooting at her all throughout the session either. "Go right ahead."

"Are you saying I smell?" Her distinctly amused voice followed him out.

"Do wash the stink off, Miss Nakia."

Her low, husky laughter echoed in his head all the way to his bedroom.

* * *

Nakia kept under the radar for the two days that it took to reach the next island, which Bepo had informed her was called Ambiance. It was terribly boring sitting in her room all day, but it was for the best and she knew it.

For one, none of the pirates trusted her. No need to make it worse by accidentally poking her head in some obscure storage room to discover whatever dangerous secrets they kept. Sometimes, with the way the Captain acted...well. Better safe than sorry.

For two, some of the pirates might be willing to act on that distrust should she be vulnerable. Nowadays, she was either in her room twiddling her thumbs, getting slammed into the floor by Bepo, or eating with the senior crewmembers.

Not exactly preferable conditions to give her a talking to, but wandering the sub on her own would be pretty much like walking the slums at night. Why, she would have been practically _asking_ for it, as some of the men liked to claim.

Nakia liked to think she was smarter than that. At least in the slums, she was stronger than the murderers. Here, not so much.

Which meant, regrettably, confining herself to her room near constantly. Since her room was terribly barren, Nakia found herself wasting time by staring out the window into silken darkness, doing and re-doing her nails/makeup/hair, or flat-out sleeping.

The Captain probably wouldn't approve if he knew about her increasingly bizarre sleeping schedule, but she barely saw him outside of meals, and he rarely spoke to her anyway, so why should she care about his opinion?

Hmph.

It was on the eve of the third night, after dinner, that anything happened to her at all.

(There had been plenty of commotion involving lava waters, carnivorous underwater plants, and suspiciously calm seas revealed to be some atrocity or another, but aside from some tossing, yelling, and spinning, Nakia had been blissfully unaffected.)

Nakia was lazing on her bed, ready to get yet more sleep, when Jean Bart's nonchalant voice came through the speaking tubes. She hadn't met him yet, courtesy of her self-imposed exile, but she had seen him around, hard not to notice the giant man.

"Target enemy ship up ahead, all hands on deck, Captain wants more rum."

Of _course_ he did. Apparently, Penguin really enjoyed sea king meat, too.

Momentarily, Nakia envied the pirates, but fighting wasn't her job; seduction was. Besides, she couldn't trust one of the Heart Pirates to not stab her in the back, no matter how much she might like to leave this damn room.

Grumbling to herself, she nonetheless settled down and closed her eyes. She ignored the clatter of boots running past her room, ignored the slight change in angle as the sub began to ascend, ignored...

She had gotten very good at ignoring things recently.

Nakia woke up to the sound of someone outside her room. Years of ingrained survival instincts rose to the surface, prompting her to keep her eyes shut, her breathing even. As if still asleep, she shifted and let her hand burrow beneath her pillow.

Touch the cool hilt of her dagger.

The groan of her door was loud as it opened. A tense pause was followed by a soft, male chuckle that Nakia recognized well from her time in the brothel.

"Well, lookie what we got here," came the whisper while the enemy pirate shuffled closer, his presence at her back sending an unwanted chill along her spine, "Who knew those fuckers had such a beauty hidden away?"

Her skin scrawled. ' _Patience_ ,' Nakia counseled herself, able to hear the man come even closer. She had turned off all the lamps before falling asleep, so the room would be shadowy, a lovely environment where she held the advantage.

A step. Two. Three... "Wakie, wakie, pret—"

Nakia lashed out with her foot, snapping her eyes open at the same time. The dim light that came from the crack under her door was more than enough light to identify the intruder. As she had suspected, he was a pirate who had somehow gotten past the Heart Pirates and sneaked into the sub.

Damn vermin.

Her bare foot connected straight into his gut, and he broke off mid-word, air knocked out of his lungs. She took that chance to tackle him to the ground, right hand grasping her unsheathed knife.

"Bitch!" he howled, battering a meaty fist at her shoulder. He was strong enough that the impact rocked her backward, and he took the chance to swipe out with the cutlass he held in his hand.

The tip of the blade grazed her upper arm even as she swerved back, but then her fisted hand slammed into his elbow and sent the cutlass flying.

Cursing fluently, he tried to flip their positions. The enemy was bigger and stronger and heavier, but Nakia had been wrestling with a polar bear for the past few days. She hurled her elbow into the center of his ribs, and while he was distracted, slit his throat in one quick move.

Blood went everywhere, red and hot and wet. The pirate choked, flailed, tried to scream. It was useless, her weight pinning him securely to the ground.

He was dead less than thirty seconds later.

Nakia slowly got off of him, feeling strangely numb as she stared at the man she had just killed. It wasn't her first kill...but it still felt...different. She wasn't on her home island anymore, wasn't a simple prostitute anymore.

Now, she worked for a pirate captain in the New World.

She knew that this wouldn't be the first time she killed for him either, however inadvertently.

Shaking off the offbeat melancholy, Nakia took stock of her situation, as had become habit a long, long time ago.

Learn from your mistakes, indeed.

She was alright, aside from the shallow cut on her arm and some bruises, and there were no more threats to her person for the time being. There was a corpse on her floor, blood dressing her room as well as her poor clothes, and from the noise above, there was still some fighting going on.

Fan- _tas_ -tic.

First things first, she decided as she looked down at the wound. She turned on the lamp and stepped into the bathroom briefly to wash off her dagger, most of the blood from her skin, and the cut.

Shit, she would need to bandage that stupid cut. Talk about complicating things.

Slipping out of her room, Nakia crept carefully through the hallways, paying close attention to the ruckus echoing through the submarine so that she could hopefully remain privy to any sort of drastic change that occurred.

Upon arriving at the operating theatre, she quickly opened the door and nearly threw herself inside, locking it behind her. With the light over the surgical table jumping due to the unnatural turbulence, she stared blankly at the pristine room.

Trafalgar Law was a surgeon, a doctor. This was a pirate submarine. Surely, _surely_ there had to be some bandages somewhere. Sighing, Nakia started to yank open drawers and cabinets.

Needles, scalpels—why the _hell_ did the man have so many scalpels?—pills, bandages—

Aha! Grabbing one roll, she cut the length she needed with her dagger and dressed her cut after pouring a few ounces of alcohol on it over the sink, hissing in pain. Strange, how a massive wound under the influence of adrenaline hurt less than a plain paper cut.

Grumbling curses, Nakia put everything back where it came from except for the roll of bandage, and after a minute of reflection, headed back to her room.

It would most likely be best if the Heart Pirates didn't learn of her little injury. You absolutely didn't show weakness to predators. Slinging on a stylish leather jacket after she stashed the bandages away, she sheathed her dagger and stuck it into the inside pocket.

And then she grabbed the pirate by the collar of his ugly shirt and began to drag him out the door.

* * *

Law was evaluating the goods they had obtained from the fight and the condition of his crew while his nakama finished off the rest of the enemy pirates when the door that led below deck was forced open.

Nakia strode onto the deck, high heels clacking loudly on the steel, with a wild glint in her eyes that he decided he rather liked. She was also dragging a dead man behind her, one that she promptly threw on the floor in front of him.

Luckily, the seawater would wash off the bloodstains when they submerged once more. Otherwise, some unfortunate soul would have the privilege of scrubbing the deck for hours.

"Miss Nakia?" Law questioned, one eyebrow raised. He already had a good idea of what must have occurred—given the strong piece of bloodied, lifeless evidence before him—but there was a nearly viable interest in hearing her version of a surely riveting tale.

"He interrupted my nap _and_ got blood on my clothes," Nakia declared, as if that was sufficient reason for why the enemy pirate was dead.

Presumably, to her, it was.

Now that she mentioned it, Law could see the small flecks of red on the black lace dress she had been wearing when they had first met. The fabric was dark enough that it wasn't immediately noticeable...though the jacket he had never seen her wear before was oddly clean.

Interesting.

Without another word, Nakia turned on her heel and went below deck, presumably back to her room, closing the door behind her. The sound was loud in the silence that had fallen over the main deck, the majority of the pirates staring after her with bemusement.

"Captain?" Shachi prompted, taking a step forwards.

Law merely smirked, unperturbed. "Where's the rum?"

A chorus of disappointed groans was his answer.

* * *

The next morning, the day that they were meant to arrive at Ambiance Island, Law surprised Nakia when he turned to her at the end of breakfast and said, "Come with me, Miss Nakia."

She tilted her head, seeming a bit confused as to why he wanted to talk her to when he had been practically ignoring her since the second day. Nevertheless, she inclined her head in agreement and followed his lead out of the mess hall.

Bringing her to his operating theatre, he gestured for her to sit down on a bed while he occupied his swivel chair. Only when they were both settled did Law pin a demanding gaze on her and ask, "Why were you in here yesterday?"

Nakia went motionless but didn't break the eye contact. "How'd you find out?"

"You didn't put the materials back correctly."

She considered that for a second and then shook her head. "I've been doing this too long to make such an amateur mistake."

He smirked. Nakia did appear to be a woman who liked to sneak around. "You have a very unique perfume," Law conceded. As soon as he had stepped foot in his theatre yesterday night, he had been able to pick up the smell of camellias.

She twitched, annoyance painted all over her face.

"First time it's ever worked against you?" he taunted blandly.

Nakia sighed before she explained. "I've been taking more showers than normal. I suppose the scent has intensified as a result." It came from her washing products and lotion, after all.

"How _is_ your training with Bepo going?" He had been getting periodic reports from the polar bear, but it would be interesting to see what Nakia thought herself.

"I have a very nice array of bruises," she said. "Would you like to see them?"

"Take off your jacket," he retorted.

Nakia blinked slowly. "Darling, my bruises aren't under my jacket. They're under my dress." Today, she was in a snug deep purple number with sideways creases that strained tight against her waist with a pair of nude heels.

Law ignored the flirting. "Your bruises might not be, but your injury is." The one that she hadn't yet admitted to, though the lack of blood on her jacket had been more than enough indication for him to conclude that it had been meant to conceal.

"It's small and shallow."

"Jacket."

"I took care of it already."

"Jacket."

"Honey-pie, do be reasonable."

"Miss Nakia, _take off the jacket_."

They glared at each other, Nakia with exasperation and Law with irritation. Silver and turquoise gazes collided for an indeterminable amount of time, neither of them willing to back down.

Law didn't concede for anybody.

Maybe she saw that notion in his eyes or maybe she finally felt the fear that he incited in others so easily, but Nakia belatedly blinked and capitulated reluctantly, shrugging out of her jacket. "And here I thought you were logical."

Law smiled lazily. "I'm also the doctor of this submarine and you're my responsibility for the length of your stay here."

 _Something_ flickered in her eyes, unfamiliar and dark and lethal, yet when she blinked again, it was gone. When she spoke, it was simply to say, "Here," while tapping the white bandage on her upper arm.

Law propelled himself forward with his foot and grabbed her arm lightly to examine it. "It's adequate," he grudgingly admitted at last, moving back.

She put the leather jacket back on with a roll of her eyes. "See? There was no need to make such a fuss, darling."

"If you had informed me when you had gotten injured, I wouldn't have had to press you on it," he countered calmly.

"Alright! We'll be arriving at Ambiance Island in twenty minutes. It's within sight!" Bepo announced cheerfully through the speaker tubes, unintentionally yet effectively bowling over their brewing argument.

Nakia frowned thoughtfully, dismissing their previous topic to ask, "Who's the pirate you want me to lure?"

Law grabbed a bounty poster from the drawer of his desk and held it up, showcasing a man with dark brown hair, multiple scars, and a toothy grin, beady eyes glinting darkly. "Wyatt 'Cutthroat' Pao, 84 million beli and Captain of the Cutthroat Pirates."

"That's low for the New World," she commented.

He shrugged. "I'm going more for quantity over quality."

"No devil fruit abilities?"

"Not according to his bounty."

"Who's my honeytrap buddy?"

"Shachi."

"He can't wear that uniform of yours," she said flatly. "It's too much of a giveaway."

"He won't. For all purposes, he'll look like an average, women-loving guy."

"Should be easy for him to do," Nakia muttered.

Law chuckled. "Probably."

* * *

"So, what'd Captain want from you, Nakia-chan?" Shachi asked as the two walked onto the deck, Ambiance Island in the distance as a small blackish-green blur. It was, admittedly, a minuscule island to begin with, not particularly special.

On the log pose, it had rated as the least dangerous of the three islands they could have gone to.

"Oh, he forced me to strip," Nakia responded idly, leaning on the balustrade next to him to flash him a radiant smile.

Shachi almost fell overboard.

"Miss Nakia, please. I merely asked you to take off your jacket so I could check on the cut you neglected to inform me of yesterday," Law chastised from directly behind them.

She waved a hand dismissively. "Details, details."

It was amazing how unimpressed the Surgeon's glance was.

Nakia giggled and swiftly turned her attention to Shachi before Law could skewer her. "You look very handsome today, sweetheart."

Shachi blushed a curious shade of red, adjusting his shirt self-consciously. Je had kept his hat, but instead of his usual boiler suit, he wore a gray button-up shirt and black pants. "Th-Thanks, Nakia-chan."

Her smile widened and she winked playfully at him before turning all business. "What's the plan, darlings? We _do_ have a plan, right?"

"Sure we do," Law said evenly. "Shachi goes in first and certifies his position. You go in after, make contact with the target, and convince him to come around to the back of the building where I'll be waiting."

Nakia sweat-dropped. "There are _so_ many things that can go wrong with a strategy like that." She smiled slyly, eyes dancing. "Alright then. Let's rock 'n roll."

* * *

Shachi could confess shamelessly that his Captain had _great_ taste.

He had gone into the bar where Pao was rumored to be before Nakia and situated himself in the corner so he had a view of the entire place, darkly-lit and smelling strongly of smoke.

Then, he had ordered a drink, flirted with the giggling waitresses, and waited for Nakia to make her entrance.

She didn't disappoint.

Ten minutes after Shachi had entered, the door swung open and Hexi Nakia strutted in. And, oh, it was very much a strut, her red, red lips curled in the smile of a woman who knew she was a siren and relished in it.

Her dress clung and caressed every feminine curve lovingly, her dark sunglasses giving her an air of mystery and enticement while the swing of her hips and the clack of her nude pumps caught attention and held it.

 _Fucking hell_.

Shachi had his eyes on her. He wasn't the only one.

It was that grim mental reminder that enabled him to tear his eyes away from her, scan the bar. It was natural for people to look up every time the door opened, check out the newcomer, and this time was no different.

It just so happened that this time quite a few of the men hadn't looked away.

One of said men was Wyatt Pao.

Shachi watched from the corner of his eye as Nakia, pretending she didn't notice the scrutiny of a dozen men, sauntered to the bar and began to flirt with the barkeeper. Her low, husky laugh rang out several times and then she grabbed her drink, looking around openly for a spot to sit down.

The area around a certain pirate was suddenly free of space, despite it having been occupied by several women two seconds before.

Nakia smiled and approached the target.

Shachi sank back down in his seat, eyes hooded and coiled like a spring. His katana was with Penguin, wherever he was, but he didn't really need it to cause enough chaos to bring every last pirate on the island running.

* * *

Nakia placed a hand on the target's shoulder and smiled warmly at him. "Excuse me, handsome, is this seat open?"

He grinned back in a way that he probably thought was charming. "For you, beautiful? Always."

Years of experience kept her from rolling her eyes. She sat down instead, purposefully arranging herself so the curve of her waist and her bare legs were nicely displayed. "I'm Susan. And you?"

Pao puffed up his chest. So proud...the arrogant ones were always the easiest to placate and cajole. "I'm Wyatt Pao! Perhaps you've heard of me?"

Nakia had, in mere passing before this day and never with any interest. She gasped softly, filling up her face with awe. "As in 'Cutthroat' Wyatt Pao? Of course I've heard about you! I never thought I'd meet you in person!"

Pao preened, smirking pretentiously. "Well, it's always wonderful to know pretty girls know of me. I can't believe any man would ever let you come to a bar alone. How 'bout we have some fun, sweetheart? I promise I'll give you the time of your life."

She smiled dreamily, putting down her drink to latch onto his arm without reservation. Nakia could feel what he wanted through her haki—an adoring, submissive sweetheart who just happened to be the most gorgeous girl in the room.

Not exactly her natural state, but this was all an act for his falsified pleasure and she was the leading lady. "Aww, Wyatt-sama, I would be _honored_. Won't you tell me about your adventures?"

He petted her hair like she was some pet, leering openly. "I'm not sure such delicate ears are suitable for hearing them, Susan-chan. The Grand Line ain't no pretty place, you know." He shifted closer a bit, the other hand settling on her thigh, a heavy, somewhat oppressive weight.

She let her head roll back with a pout, removing one hand to brush her fingers down her neck to toss some stray strands off to the side. Nakia saw Pao watch her hungrily from the corner of her eye.

 _Hook_.

"Oh, but, Wyatt-sama, they must be so exciting!" she gushed, licking her lips.

"They are," he agreed, staring blankly at her painted lips. That hand on her thigh started to wander upwards, and she clenched her legs together, pressing closer to the target.

"Are they long and hard and dangerous?" Nakia arched her back slightly, giving him quite the generous view of her cleavage. The double entendre was no mistake, no doubt giving him all sorts of interesting thoughts.

God. So, so easy, this one. The greenest prostitute could take him without a problem. And here she had thought she would actually need to do some work.

"Very." His eyes were dilated, concentration faltering. There was a noticeable flush to his cheeks when she stroked her hands down his chest, lingering here and there. Her sunglasses were a blessing; she didn't have to worry about maintaining eye contact.

"Then..." she breathed huskily, blushing vibrantly herself, "...perhaps we should go somewhere else for... _story time_."

 _Line_.

Pao grinned lasciviously, gaze clearly set below her face. "You're right, Susan-chan. Do you have any place in mind?"

"Well..." Nakia drew back slightly, as if remembering that good girls didn't proposition pirates in a bar, even as she let her hands settle a bit too close to the slight bulge in his pants for comfort. "Oh, Wyatt-sama, I wouldn't want to be brazen..."

The target brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear in a supposedly comforting gesture. "Trust me, Susan-chan, I won't mind. At all."

She turned her head away a fraction and shifted subtly so her dress pulled perfectly taut against her body, saying shyly, "Umm...maybe we should visit the back of the bar to have some...fun." A perfect make-out spot, in his mind.

 _Sinker_.

Pao's face went slack for a moment, before a depraved grin stretched across his face. "I think that's a great idea, Susan-chan! Come on, let's go!" Grabbing her arm, he began to drag her out of the bar bodily.

Brute. Nakia caught Shachi giving her a questioning look and jerked her head in a subtle negative. Stumbling out, Pao wasted no time sprinting to the alley behind the bar. She could _feel_ the bruises forming from his overtly enthusiastic grip.

When they got there at last, Law was nowhere in sight.

She would have thought that he had ditched or something had happened if she couldn't sense his presence with her haki, a tightly-contained gray storm. Powerful, she couldn't help but acknowledge to herself. He was so powerful, even when he wasn't trying.

Good thing that, for now, he was on her side. Or she was on his side. Whatever.

Just as Pao shoved her against the brick wall none too gently, a single word was spoken from the shadows. "Room." In an instant, a thin sheen of blue expanded around them in a sphere, though Nakia felt nothing physically.

A devil fruit user, huh?

The glazed look in Pao's black eyes turned into confusion, and he stepped back from Nakia to look around. "Wha—"

Nakia smiled kindly and spun out of his grasp. She was at the other end of the alley before he realized what was happening. She supposed she should feel guilty for leading him on like this, but she didn't.

"Mes," Law ordered, stepping smoothly into view.

Nakia watched in fascination as a literal heart popped out and landed in the Surgeon's palm. Pao gasped, glanced down, and collapsed into a heap on the ground, whimpering. Well. That looked painful.

Paying him no mind, Law casually took a brown bag from his pocket and slipped the heart inside before tying it back up again. One down, ninety-nine more to go. Though, admittedly, she was only responsible for the most important ten.

"Sweetheart, your powers are strange," Nakia said bluntly, placing a hand on her hip. She wondered what devil fruit he had eaten. Did he consider the power worth the price paid?

He smirked coolly, turning his head to look at her. "Jealous?"

She sighed dramatically. "Why, of course. Now...about that clothing store we saw earlier..."

Law rested his nodachi on his shoulder comfortably, lips twitching upwards. "I didn't know you were this high maintenance, Miss Nakia."

"Oh, I know." Nakia wandered over to his side as they made their way back to the bustling streets. "Oh, are we leaving Shachi behind, the poor dear?"

He shot her a vaguely amused look. "He was joined by the rest of my crew, and I believe they are currently beating the crap out of the Cutthroat Pirates."

She blinked and laughed, visually browsing the many, many stores the busy town of Ambiance Island offered. Various foreign spices perfumed the air, a few street stands here and there, starving folks hidden in the shadows...

"Well then, we mustn't interrupt their fun. Oooh, that looks like it panders to my taste. Over here, sweetie."

* * *

Nakia tried not to laugh at the look on the Captain's face. Honestly, shopping wise, an hour and a half wasn't a very long time. There had simply been so many beautiful, unique dresses with styles she had never seen in her hometown, and...

(Okay, so, maybe she had wanted to torment the pirate a little, but she would keep that to herself.)

She snuck another glance at the Captain and couldn't help it. Law had the blankest damn expression on his face, lips pressed into a firm line and brows drawn together, left eye twitching with irritation.

It was too much.

Nakia broke down into (carefully) graceful laughter, arms wrapped around her middle.

Instantly, she was subject to a death glare, along with mental threats of various experiments, punishments, and dismemberment. It wasn't enough to get her to stop laughing. To Law's annoyed indignation.

"Miss Nakia, do stop making a scene in the middle of the street," Law snapped after another minute of consecutive laughter. People were starting to stare at the apparently hysterical girl.

"Gosh, what did he _do_ to her?" whispered a nearby woman to her friend.

Nakia forcibly stifled her amusement, eyes dancing. "Of course," she giggled disarmingly. The bags carried in the crook of her arm swung in the air, rather light for the six dresses and two pairs of lingerie she had eventually decided on.

"So nice to know I'm entertainment," he said blandly, taking her other elbow and steering her out of the traffic flow. There were a good amount of people wearing amulets, he noted absently.

Nakia grinned, gleeful. "Don't worry, honey. You're _good_ entertainment."

"Lovely," Law deadpanned. "We're going back to the bar to collect." The other Heart Pirates were almost certainly done with their fights by now and were probably flirting outrageously with women. Luckily, there weren't any marine bases nearby.

Her eyes danced, but she made no complaint when he herded her towards the bar. "Hai, hai."

* * *

Nakia found herself back in a different bar on the same island the next afternoon.

She wrinkled her nose discreetly at the stench of alcohol, pointedly ignoring the men making eyes at her. Swirling her glass of apple juice, she looked over the bar with a mild frown. Really, what was she _doing_ here?

Ah, yes. This morning, while she had happily slept in, the pirates had wandered off to some far-off mountain, defeated some ancient god while vandalizing some temple, stole some goats, and started a rockslide that almost crushed the town.

Thankfully—or not—the Captain, according to rumor and widely exaggerated boasting, had waved his hands, muttered a few magic words, and the rockslide was mysteriously halted.

The townspeople were torn between awe and terror, fear and reverence.

Nakia wasn't in the least interested in being involved in the chaos, but no, the pirates had wanted to _celebrate._

Uni, her 'watcher' and a surprisingly sweet man once you got over the gray bandana covering half his face, had wanted to be with the rest of the crew, and well, here she was.

At the moment, Law, uninjured but for the bandages wrapped around his neck, was almost buried in women, as were Shachi and Penguin and Bepo, who all looked like mummies. The others had wandered off somewhere, hidden in the press of bodies.

As she had expected, beer and wine were everywhere, the air heavy with smoke and desire.

It reminded her of—

Nakia placed her drink on the counter. There were too many people in this place, and it was difficult to breathe. She wanted to leave. It wasn't like she was a prisoner or anything; she had already bagged Trafalgar sixteen hearts without incident.

Well, technically, she had gotten the target, and without their Captain to protect them, the rest had fallen like dominoes, as told by Clione, a boisterous man with a very questionable blue hat, last night. He had been drunk. She had wanted to throw up.

There was no legitimate reason why she couldn't leave, was there?

She rose to her feet, subtly waving the female bartender over. "Would you mind doing me a favor?"

The woman blinked at her curiously, the laugh lines on her face making it clear she was in her forties, if not fifties. "What is it, sweetheart?"

"If any of the pirates over there ask, would you tell them that I went to tour the island and would be back before nightfall?" Nakia couldn't think of any reason why one of them would want to find her, but it paid to be cautious.

Especially with pirates.

"Up to no good?" The bartender grinned heartily, deep brown eyes twinkling. "Ah... I remember when I was your age. Never mind those pirates, I'll tell them."

"Thank you." She was itching to leave, to get out of this place. Roam a little. She had been kept under near constant watch for too long, and Nakia had never been good at following the rules, even the unspoken ones.

"Psst!" The older woman winked conspiratorially and gestured under the bar to the right. "There's a back door there. Have fun!"

"I will." Nakia slipped out and found herself in another dark alley, shielded from the sun close to the horizon. Figures. Turning, she walked out of the alley and moving into the constant stream of people, blending in seamlessly.

Now, where to go from here?

She wanted to _see_ , Nakia thought. She wanted to see everything but not be a part of it, didn't want men pawing at her and asking for sex. She wanted to be above it all...but not be solitary. To be alone without being lonely, the truest conundrum, surely.

Nakia whirled around, eyes scanning the skies, thinking. Shachi had told her this was a mostly advanced island with strong architecture, albeit with backward religion. They had tall buildings here, even compared with the other civilizations he had come across.

She fixed her eyes on the tallest one, the one that seemed to reach for the skies, near the outskirts of the town, and started to walk. Half an hour, an hour later, Nakia was at the base, craning her neck back to look up.

It was abandoned, judging from the dust and holes and crumbling paint. Nakia didn't understand why, but then, she didn't care.

Kicking off her shoes, she reached for a low window sill. With a fierce smile, she started to climb up the building, aiming for the rooftop she could just barely see.

Nakia had been climbing for years. It was a practice that Yuezhi had first started.

_"But Tou-san! What if I fall?"_

_A masculine laugh accompanied the strong hands holding her. "I wouldn't let you fall, little darling."_

He had lied, Nakia thought. He had let her fall. Not at that moment in time, but later, much later. And it had been a devastating fall.

_"You stupid little girl. Did your papa really think he could get away with it?" Taunting laughter, the little girl curling up in a ball as fists and boots assaulted her from every direction. "Boys, let's teach her a lesson that she'll never forget."_

They _had_ taught her a lesson. One she never forgot. It was one of the few ways they had won, and sometimes, she hated herself for it.

Nakia reached for a window sill that crumbled underneath her weight, left her hanging by the fingertips of her other hand. Reckless. Gritting her teeth, she hacked herself free of the memories and got herself out of the situation through sheer bullheadedness.

It was a talent.

Later, both feet on a safe ledge, hands clinging to secure holds, she glanced down. The ground was far away, her shoes now a small speck. If she fell down from this height, she would be lucky to escape with mere broken bones.

Those hurt. She knew exactly how that felt, because when they'd peeled her off the ground when she was twelve, she'd had forty-seven broken bones. Seven had been from broken ribs. Of the five that were left, three had fractured.

But Nakia had been fortunate. She had gotten out of the ordeal alive and well and only "slightly" depressed. Umeko hadn't been nearly so lucky.

She pulled herself onto the rooftop of the rotting building with a gasp, muscles burning. But compared to what they were like after training sessions with Bepo, this aching was easy to handle.

Nakia sat down and stared at the town spread out in front of her, whole and distant and lovely.

Reaching up, she unbound her hair, slipping the hair tie onto her wrist. The locks were blown back by the wind, so strong at this altitude. It felt good against her heated skin, a wild force that no one could leash, no one could control.

Nakia wrapped her arms around her bent legs and let herself drift away from reality for a second.

Just a second.

It was something she had developed after that night when everything had fallen to pieces, a practice she found herself turning to more and more as she matured and the requests asked of her and her body became ever more strenuous.

Maybe it was unhealthy, maybe it was futile, but it kept her going, so who had the right to judge?

That's right: nobody.

Sighing, Nakia closed her eyes, letting the stress of the past week fall away. The Heart Pirates were _nice_ pirates, she would be the first to admit that. They hadn't harassed her, hadn't terrorized her, even though they certainly could have.

She couldn't help but feel angry that they _could_ , that they were strong enough to hurt her if they so wished, but it was the truth, and Nakia was a realist when all was said and done.

These people could wipe the floor with her without breaking a sweat, as Bepo did so daily.

The Heart Pirates had left Nakia be. But that didn't mean they weren't watching her 24/7, and it was tiring, to put up a front all the time, to pretend that, at her core, Nakia wasn't utterly ruthless and coldly manipulative so long as she got what she wanted.

She wasn't a psychopath or a sociopath. At least, Nakia didn't think she was. She wasn't apathetic, at the very least. If she didn't love her mother, why would she be traveling with this dangerous pirate crew?

But up here, so high above it all, she was free to do as she was no one putting her under a microscope, no one at all. She could dream all she wanted...

Nakia blinked and suddenly the sun was setting down the horizon, the sky orange and pink and red. What...? She glanced down, saw that the town was full of twinkling lights...night lights on the rise.

Was it that late already?

Patches of the sky were blue, as blue as the thin film coming straight towards her...

Wait. What?

Nakia furrowed her brow, struggling to make sense of what was happening around her. After so long, it felt like awakening from a long sleep, and her mind wasn't functioning so well, drowsy yet.

She looked down at herself. She was covered in the film...no, that wasn't quite true. She was in a sphere of a pale blue color. Wasn't this...?

Without warning, a screaming sense of disorientation assaulted her and then she was falling two feet to...the ground? Nakia was on her feet and spinning around to meet the man her haki had only just picked up on before she knew what she was doing.

Only to meet a pair of furious, blazing gray eyes.

_Oh._

_Shit._

* * *

Law had been the first one to notice Nakia's disappearance. Even then, as perceptive as he was, it had taken him some time. He had been distracted. Sorely so.

"Law-kun, don't you want to take this somewhere else?" purred the woman who had draped herself all over him, strawberry blonde hair splayed over his hoodie.

He smirked wickedly, hand on her lower back. "Relax, there's no rush." As it was, the Surgeon wasn't quite drunk enough yet.

The blonde pouted, milky blue eyes wide and beseeching. "But, Law-kun! I _want_ you!"

So shameless, he thought, amused. Law leaned close and let his lips brush her earlobe. "Would you beg?"

She trembled against him, breaths coming in quick gasps. "Yes," she hummed throatily.

' _Shameless_ ,' he thought again, and then, ' _weak._ ' Law's hired prostitute wouldn't beg for anything. Rather, she would look at him with those knowing eyes, smile flirtatiously, and completely reject the idea in an off-hand manner.

Speaking of Nakia...

Law surveyed the bar, looking for a glimpse of the white minidress with outrageously wide sleeves and metallic gold belt that she had chosen to wear today. It was far more modest than he would have expected.

In fact, all of the clothing she had bought yesterday had been less showy than he would have anticipated.

Well, except for the lingerie. But Law wasn't dwelling on that, hence the alcohol.

He had foreseen spying Nakia at the counter, nursing a drink and disregarding all the men trying to catch her attention. When money wasn't involved, she was remarkably cold towards unwanted suitors...and they were _all_ unwanted suitors.

Perhaps the slobbering locals were why she was no longer sitting on her bar stool. But nor was she anywhere else in the bar.

Law narrowed his eyes and rose to his feet, taking no notice of the dismayed cry of the blonde as he pushed her away. Searching out Shachi, he forced his way through the crowd to curtly interrupt his with a curvaceous redhead. "Shachi, where's Miss Nakia?"

Shachi glanced up sharply, a frown forming on his lips while his entertainment hurriedly excused herself. "Nakia-chan? She's at the bar..." It took a single glance before he was forced to correct himself, forehead creasing with concern. "Well, she _was_ at the bar."

Law scowled and stalked off to the bar, a muscle twitching in his cheek. Waving the bartender over, he said, "Miss, did you see a woman with blue eyes and brown hair here earlier? White dress, gold belt?"

She grinned deviously. "Sure I did. She asked me to pass on a message to you."

"What is it?"

"She said she wanted to go tour the island and would be back before nightfall," recited the bartender dutifully, cleaning out a glass with a towel.

Law's eyes narrowed dangerously. "And when was this?"

"Oh...I would say around...two hours ago?"

He whirled around with a snarl.

How. _Dare_. She.

She was _the_ weakest of all the individuals under his flag and the most obvious target for the Cutthroat Pirates to go after if they had awakened on the barren field the Heart Pirates had dumped them on after removing their hearts.

He had known she was reckless and disobedient, but this crossed the line into abject stupidity.

Paling civilians rapidly scurried out of his path as Law stalked back to Shachi, eyes shadowed ominously beneath the brim of his hat. Shachi was already on his feet, the other Heart Pirates pushing forward at the visible and negative change in their Captain.

"What is it?" Shachi wanted to know. "What happened to Nakia-chan?"

Law's voice came out ice-cold and viciously quiet. "Miss Nakia appears to have wandered off because she wished to 'tour' this island."

Kaperin's scowl was dark and he crossed his muscular arms. "Let her wander then. See what happens when those pirates catch hold of her."

"What if she gets hurt?" Tara cut in, open worry on his face. "What then?"

"Then Captain patches her up and she learns her lesson."

"I don't think the Cutthroat Pirates would be satisfied with beating her up, Kaperin," Penguin said with a frown. Nakia had personally been the one to doom Wyatt Pao after all. "They'd probably kill her."

"So? She's just a common whore. We can find another one easy."

"Enough," Law said, and everyone shut up. "Shachi, stay here in case she comes back. Tara, Uni, get to the hotel. The rest of you, split up, find her, and I'll see to it that she doesn't do this again." He'd make _sure_ she'd never do this again.

There were some unmistakable grumbles and complaints, but his crew obeyed, trailing out of the bar in groups of two or three. Law strolled out by himself, the nodachi resting on his shoulder near ensuring he would have little trouble.

Temporarily putting his irritation aside, he leaned against a building and thought about where a woman like Nakia would go with no one to look after her, or, in this case, oversee with suspicion.

The shopping market, perhaps, simply to browse after he had cut her visit there short yesterday. Then again, it was quite a conspicuous zone and one that she was most likely to avoid.

He didn't know, and he didn't know Hexi Nakia well enough to say whether she would or wouldn't. What other options were there? The beach, the coastline, might hold enough attraction for a late stroll, particularly for a newcomer to traveling.

It was too long and strenuous of a journey to the mountain. He doubted she would go there.

Law pushed off the building and walked out of the town. It took an hour to circle around the entire island, and by the time he was right back where he had started, the sun was setting, his frustration was set to boiling point, and he was still short one unruly whore.

She had said she would be back by nightfall, he remembered. Perhaps he should go back to the bar or hotel? But Tara and Uni were holding the fort there and he remained too savagely infuriated to stay still.

By chance, he looked up and caught a glint of light from one of the higher buildings.

Not one of the higher buildings, Law realized after another look, _the_ highest building. A figure was on the rooftop, the metallic gold of her belt having snatched his attention, dark brown hair blowing in the wind.

 _There_.

Tension churning beneath his skin—fuck, what had she been _thinking_? _—_ Law was at the bottom of the building ten minutes later. He looked up and only grew angrier, his jaw clenching.

From the abandoned shoes and the scuffles on the crumbling sills, Nakia had climbed her way up there, a highly structurally unsound building that had been abandoned to rot.

Notable for her apparent skill in climbing, but one mistake, one misstep would have sent her crashing down to the unforgiving earth. And from the rooftop, she, as a barely trained civilian, would be a flat pancake on the ground.

Placing his nodachi down by the black stilettos, Law held out a hand. "Room." The blue sphere spread out until it covered the whole building, including the roof. And a certain Hexi Nakia he needed to discipline.

"Shambles." A flip of his fingers and the rock a few feet away was suddenly occupied by a maddening woman who made a soft sound as she landed on the ground. She leaped to her feet and spun around to face him in a blur of white and gold, sleeves trailing behind her.

Nakia froze when their eyes met.

But only for a second.

And then she hissed, "Darling, what are you doing?"

Law was furious. Oh, he was goddamn pissed and he didn't bother with holding back. "What am _I_ doing? What are _you_ doing?"

"What does this have to do with me? You're the one who decided to interrupt my very nice break and drop me on my very nice ass!"

She was upset that he had dropped her two feet above the ground? "Miss Nakia, do you think you can just go off without telling anyone?" he snarled, pacing forward like a predatory cat. "Did you spare a _second_ to think about the damn consequences?"

"The last time I checked, I'm a hired call girl, not one of your nakama and not a prisoner!" Nakia snapped, standing her ground, to his paradoxical satisfaction and acrimony. "I can go wherever I damn well please!"

"Shut. Up. You stupid girl, did you really think the Cutthroat Pirates wouldn't go after you, the one who put out their precious Captain?" On her own and weak as she was, she wouldn't last a full five minutes. They would have ripped her apart.

A flicker in her eyes, one that he caught only because he was so close. It was gone a moment later, but he had seen it.

"You didn't." He shook his head mutely, stunned at the sheer boneheaded _idiocy_ of her. "You didn't have a clue."

"So what?" Her voice cracked like a whip, though she made no effort to dispute his statement. Regardless, her eyes burned like turquoise flames. "I would have handled it. I'm not helpless, _sweetie_."

The usual idle endearment came out like a curse, but Law didn't focus on that. "What are you _are_ is foolhardy beyond belief. You're weak," he said brutally, refusing to give a centimeter to this obdurate, stubborn woman.

"You're not strong enough for the New World." It was why he had left her behind on today's expedition to begin with. "Keep on going like this and you'll get yourself torn to shreds."

"That doesn't mean you get to dictate what I do," Nakia responded, effectively turning the subject of the fight from her stupidity to the matter of his authority over her. Or lack thereof. "You're _not_ my Captain, Mr. Trafalgar Law. Don't you dare act like it!"

"No, I'm your employer, so stop being a damn brat and listen to me!" Law hit the nearby wall with his fist, glaring murderously at her. "If you go off on your own, you are going to _die_! If you're suicidal, fine! Just get to it after you finish your job!"

"Why the hell should I listen to your orders? I'm not one of your crewmates!" No, she certainly was not. For one, none of them would challenge him like this. For two, no one was anywhere near as pigheaded as this woman who continued to shout at him.

For three, they knew what their Captain could do if pushed.

"I could inject venom into your bloodstream and stand by and watch you scream. I could break you until you were nothing but an empty shell. Is that what you want?" he threatened silkily.

It was an empty threat, not one he would follow through on when it would be no easy feat to find a replacement with Hexi Nakia's sheer potential, but she didn't know that.

Nakia shivered, her lips pressing together into a strained, pale line, but still, she defied him without a hint of hesitation.

"Go ahead then." She lifted her jaw, fixing him with an unblinking stare that contained only brash challenge, none of the horror that any sane civilian should be consumed by. "Do it."

"You really are suicidal." He didn't know whether he was fascinated or incensed. Possibly both in equal measures.

She was opening her mouth to shout at him some more when she unexpectedly froze. "Did you hear that?"

Law hesitated, stretching out his senses immediately. "Hear what?"

"That—" A loud _crack_ echoed in the abrupt silence. "—noise."

They both looked up in unison, studying the spider-web fissures spreading up the building. It had been fragile in the first place, deserted by its builders when they realized it would never have been safe to live in, but with all of their recent abuse...

"Fuck my life," Nakia muttered.

Law rather agreed at this point.

The upper left half of the roof collapsed.

Dust and debris flew everywhere with a massive crash of sound, the rolling dark cloud spreading outwards with terrifying momentum and speed. Cursing under his breath, Law wheeled around and lunged for Kikoku before the actual matter could fall and potentially crush them.

He had already been put through the wringer today. He was slow, wasn't exactly at his best.

It was why he had been relaxing in that bar in the first place.

"NO!" A hand grabbed his arm and tugged him back with a startling bout of strength. Law collided with Nakia, the impact knocking the air out of both of them, just as a chunk of brick dropped on the nodachi and heels.

"...I _liked_ those shoes," she said plaintively.

"Not the time," he replied, but he was smiling.

"Can we run now?"

"Too late." The building tilted down, and, just their luck, it happened to fall in their direction rather than the other way around, where the majority of the damage could be avoided.

The upper half of the building hurtled behind Law, the lower half of the building crumbled where it stood, and the middle...

"Hold on," he warned grimly, grabbing her around her waist and throwing them sideways so she landed on relatively clean grass. His hat fell some distance away, flopping limply.

The dust from the fallen segments was hitting them now, and he bent low, eyes stinging and no space between their bodies, to avoid most of it.

And then the middle gave away above them.

Law gritted his teeth as bricks and glass and rubble fell on his unprotected back, some leaving mere bruises and others, the sharper glass, going straight through his hoodie to cut harshly into his flesh, the pain acute.

Warm blood trickled slowly down his skin, filled the air alongside the scents of grime and soot and dust.

Nakia was utterly silent underneath him, but he could hear her carefully controlled breathing, feel her wildly thudding heart, see her wide, wide eyes. She wasn't ready for this, but in the Grand Line, it was always sink or swim.

And she hadn't screamed, hadn't panicked, so he knew which one he was betting on.

He would have mused on her a bit more, but then a great big hunk of stone hit him heavily on the head and he blacked out entirely.

* * *

 _I've been reckless, but I'm not a rebel without cause._ — _Angelina Jolie_


	3. Run, Darling, Run

_Women don't owe you shit._

* * *

Nakia wasn't afraid to admit that she was fucking terrified.

The barrage from the disintegrating building had finally stopped, but the aftermath was hardly any better. Law was lying on top of her, both squashing her and shielding her, and he wasn't responding, the bastard. And, _God_ , she couldn't move.

Again.

_She was lying on the floor, and it hurt. Everything hurt. The little girl coughed out blood—that hurt, too. She couldn't move._

_Hands were pulling off her clothes and touching her. That was wrong, wasn't it?_

_But she couldn't move._

_The child was pinned to the ground and a man climbed on top of her._

_It hurt, it hurt, it hurt so much._

_She couldn't move._

Nakia bit her bottom lip hard enough that she tasted blood and snapped herself out of it.

_"Not the time."_

Law's voice rang in her head, and he was right. She dared to move an inch. White hot fire shot through her body, and she hissed out a breath. Bad idea. Her legs felt strangely numb. Hell.

It had been sunset when he had found her, and it was probably night by now. Which meant, even if there had been some small crack in the rock surrounding them, it was still pitch black outside.

"Darling?" she whispered tentatively. Silence was her answer. She couldn't see shit. Cursing mentally, Nakia gathered her last vestiges of courage and raised her hands to touch his back.

It was wet and she caught an all-too-familiar whiff of iron. Blood, damn. She ghosted her hands higher, trying to assess the damage.

Shards of glass met her questing fingers. They were sharp, sharp enough to cause all sorts of cuts on her fingers.

Lovely, Nakia thought dryly, now she could start wearing gloves. With the sunglasses, it would make a great outfit with a wide-brimmed hat. She might as well, considering how many of the Heart Pirates had hats...

Maybe it was a trend or something. Along with the boiler suits. Oh, Kami-sama, the boiler suits. The more she looked at them, the uglier they seemed. Especially when they flopped about in motion.

On that topic...maybe the pirates would find them soon? She did have their beloved Captain with her after all...

"Darling?" she repeated, this time a bit louder. Still no response. What was it that had knocked him out again? Her hands drifted higher and pressed against soft hair. His hat, she remembered, had fallen off in the chaos.

She stroked her hands through the locks...and felt more blood. A head wound? That was... _damn_.

Nakia dug deeper, let her fingers trace his scalp. Blood, blood...there. The tip of her ring finger brushed against the open wound, and he made a pained noise in his throat.

"Sorry, sorry." What to do now? Pulling back, she hesitated. She would need to stop the bleeding, which meant...

Fuck it all, this was a new dress!

"You're going to owe me another shopping trip, sweetie," she muttered, grabbing the wide sleeve of her right arm and ripping. Then, she ripped it up some more.

Laying most of the material on top of whatever wreckage was beside her, she did her best to bandage the wound by touch alone. Law made wounded noises, and Nakia tried to be gentle, but the cloth needed to be tight enough that the blood flow would stop.

That done, she concentrated on her breathing.

Deep breath in. Deep breath out. It took who-knows-how-long to get her horror under control, but after she was relatively certain she wouldn't freak out, she reached out and explored her new surroundings.

By the feel of it, she had eight centimeters of open grass on her left and thirteen centimeters on her right. Any farther and she felt stone. Or sharp debris that caused more cuts. Above was a different matter altogether.

Five centimeters over Law was a big-ass slab of stone that was probably being propped up by other, smaller stones. Pursing her lips, Nakia pressed lightly and flinched at the screech of sound that assaulted her ears. The stone tilted, and she rapidly withdrew.

Fuck, the thing could collapse over them any minute.

Plus, how much air was getting into this rock cage? It smelled like iron and ash and steel. She was pretty sure the the steel scent, at least was originating from Law. Including the prominent smell of iron. He wasn't moving, and, and _—_ she couldn't _move_.

Law needed to wake up. And then they needed to get out of here. Before they died. Or she went insane.

"Darling?" she tried, threading her fingers back through his hair because she was at a loss of what else to do. "Sweetheart, you need to wake up."

A quiet pause.

Nakia breathed a sigh, struggling to keep her panic in control. She couldn't go to pieces now. Instead, she began to ramble, "Okay, maybe I shouldn't have gone out on my own. But I didn't want to stay in the bar and I didn't consider the other pirates. I never had to think about that back on Visp, you know."

Another taut pause.

"Besides, if they wanted revenge, wouldn't they have gone after you guys? Wait, no, I'm the one who took out their Captain. Damn. I'm not even part of your crew, why am I considered the weak link? Because I'm working for you. This sucks. But do stop giving me orders, darling. I'm not the obedient type."

"..." Harsh breaths, frantic heartbeats.

"Ugh." Nakia fought back the burning in her eyes, took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, alright? Does that make you feel better? You _win_. Though, just so the score is clear, we're totally in this situation because you're a dominant bastard and just had to smash the poor building."

"...you're terrible at apologies, Miss Nakia," Law rasped, voice strained with pain.

Her laugh was a tad hysterical, but she managed a smile in the dark. "Finally awake, sweetheart? You took your time."

He shifted slightly, but immediately stopped with a groan. "What's the situation?"

"You have a head wound and shards of glass in your back. We're surrounded by rock and sharp stuff. Don't lift your head; there's a stone above you most likely held up by nearby debris. Not very stable though..."

"So it's possible it'll come crashing down soon," he deduced, the hands that had remained on her waist spreading their fingers. "How are you?" Weird. She wouldn't have thought he cared.

"Plenty of bruises and cuts, but otherwise fine." But she couldn't move. She couldn't—

"I see." A beat while he orientated himself, and then, "Am I crushing you?"

It was a valid point, considering his weight was resting entirely on her body, but her smile widened a fraction. "Darling, I'm pretty sure you're lighter than the rocks."

Law chuckled weakly, his breath warm on her earlobe. "Point taken."

"Any ideas on how to get out of here?" she asked quietly, apprehensive of how shaky the Captain seemed. He always appeared so strong, so indomitable to her, that it was a jolt to remember that he was human, too.

"My crew was searching for you," he said, pinching her sides lightly in punishment, "so they would naturally be attracted to the event of the tallest building on the island collapsing. They should be here soon."

"Stop that," she muttered, squirming a bit. Nakia wasn't exactly ticklish, but it wasn't a _pleasant_ sensation.

"Don't give me orders," Law retorted, pinching her ever harder.

Nakia muttered some none-too nice-names under her breath but subsided, withdrawing her hands from his hair.

"...you said you wanted to leave the bar earlier? Why?"

She scowled. "You were awake then? Why didn't you say anything?" He had scared her, the bastard. Nakia did _not_ like being scared.

"I was groggy and had to remember who the hell you were," he said bluntly. "Now, answer the question."

And he said _she_ was demanding. There was no way that she was going to tell him the truth. Nu-uh. Nakia did not need Trafalgar Law to know that she had a thing about leering men and heavy alcohol and being surrounded on all sides.

Bastard would totally take advantage.

So, she went the easy route, something he could probably relate to, being a pirate and all. "I was restless."

"Yeah?" He sounded pretty suspicious.

She had no idea why. Wasn't that a perfectly logical reason? "Mm-hm."

"...captain..."

Law tilted his head a bit. "Hear that?"

"...Captain! Nakia-chan!"

Nakia smiled faintly. "Sounds like Bepo darling." Good. She needed to be able to move soon.

"Answer," he ordered shortly, breath coming in pants.

She would have been annoyed if she hadn't been so concerned over his health. If the Captain fell unconscious on her now, it was likely the Heart Pirates who dug them up would rip her to shreds first and ask questions later. "Cutie!"

A faint lapse. "Nakia-chan?"

"We're here!" she called back, trying not to bust Law's eardrums at the same time. Not easy, since her lips were maybe two centimeters away from the tip of his ear, but she made a valiant effort.

"Guys, over here!" Bepo exclaimed, the sound a bit dull as if he had turned his head away.

"Is Captain okay?" That...sounded like Shachi.

"Dunno. I only hear Nakia-chan. Nakia-chan! Is Captain okay?!"

"I dunno myself," she muttered to herself, directing her next words to the limp body on top of her. "Darling, you still with me?"

An indecipherable mumble was her answer, his head having dropped to rest against her neck.

"He has a head wound and is about to go unconscious, but he's alive!" Nakia gave them the best news she could. Which was pretty bad. Damn.

"Don't worry!" Oh, look, that was Penguin! Was the whole gang here? "We'll get you guys out!"

"Might want to hurry," she drawled, but didn't shout loud enough for them to hear. They were probably already going as fast as they could. She could hear the grind of rocks, shuffling of stone.

Stone.

Shit.

"Honey, be careful!" she yelled, not sure who the hell she was talking to. "Don't destabilize the rock that'll crush us like ants if it falls."

"What?"

"Be careful! Big rock, falls down, pancake us!"

"Aren't you the optimist..." It wasn't a question but surprisingly, Law was still with her.

"I'm a realist, sweetheart." She'd had to become one when her world fell down on her. And she wasn't talking about the current cave-in.

No answer, his breaths growing weak. She rattled off curses, reaching up to grasp him by the shoulders. Liquid was trickling down her skin, blood that he had bled onto her. Dear God, her dress wasn't going to survive this, was it?

"Sweetheart, don't you lose it on me now!" Nakia commanded, lifting her head up so she could talk directly into his ear. "Stay awake!"

"...I told you not to order me around." Muffled words, but he was conscious. Good.

"Suck it up, buttercup," she said unsympathetically. "You need to be alive when your nakama get us out."

Nakia felt him smile against her skin, an odd sensation. "Worried, Miss Nakia?"

"Damn straight." She reached up one hand to feel the make-shift bandage, found it soaked through. "Crap, you're losing too much blood."

"You normally don't swear this much..." She could tell by his voice that he was drifting in and out now. Fuck it all.

"Normally, I'm not stuck under a collapsed house and dealing with a near-unconscious pirate captain." Nakia pressed down hard on his head wound, ignoring his instinctive hiss of pain. "Darlings, hurry!" He wasn't going to last much longer.

"Almost there, Nakia-chan!" Bepo reassured her.

"How long?"

An indistinct buzz of voices, and then Penguin answered, "Two minutes, max!"

"Think you can stick out for two minutes, honeypie?" She squeezed his shoulder lightly.

"Who do you think you're talking to?"

Nakia grinned at the miffed question and decided it was time for a bit of distraction. "Would you buy me some sparkle?"

"...buy you some _what_?"

She couldn't help but giggle at his incredulous, and suddenly very awake, tone despite the situation. "You know. Some sparkle."

Nakia could all but feel his 'are-you-fucking-with-me' look despite the darkness. "And that would be...?"

She tched in faux disappointment. "Really, dear, how could you not know what some sparkle is?"

"I suspect most of the sane population do not," was the dry response.

Her laugh was somewhat startled. Who knew the Surgeon had a sense of humor? "Sparkle can be a lot of things, sweetie. Like colorful glass or pretty shells or a ruby necklace."

A mildly baffled lull. "So anything nice to look at?"

Nakia rolled her eyes. "Not anything so simple, bumpkin."

A cringe. "Not that one."

"Excuse me?"

"All your other nicknames I can handle. Not that one."

She snickered and immediately stored that tidbit away for future provocation. "Whatever you say, cuddle-bear."

Law groaned, digging his fingers into her sides. "Miss Nakia, be nice."

"Never," she said archly, but bit her lip as the blood continued to flow. "How're you feeling?"

"Headache, drowsiness, confusion...classic signs of a head injury."

"Blood loss?"

"Insignificant." Arrogant male pride was going to be the death of her.

"Other than the head?" Her voice was dry.

"Mm-hm..." Damn, he sounded almost completely out of it.

There was a grinding sound above them and then a whisper of pale light. Nakia turned her head and found the crack to her left, the fuzzy voices of the Heart Pirates becoming clearer. Fucking finally. She needed to move.

"Get that one!"

"Fuck, this place is a wreck."

"Heave hoe!"

What the fuck were they pretending to be, construction workers? Damn it all, she couldn't _move._ And was it just her, but was it getting hard to breathe?

"Nakia-chan, how's Captain doing?!" Bepo asked.

She glanced at said man. With the faint light coming through, she could see the crimson of the blood all over his dark, spiky hair. The yellow of his hoodie was littered with ugly splinters of glass and red stains. His face was buried in her neck, but from what she could see, his eyes were closed.

"Not good," Nakia called back. "Hurry the hell up!"

There was a flurry of curses, as well as the sounds of more vigorous labor. An eternity later, hands appeared beneath the chunk of rock above Law's head and lifted it straight off of them with a following chorus of relief, including plenty of yelling and swearing.

Nakia felt kind of fuzzy herself, by this point.

The first thing that she saw were the stars. It was a clear night, no clouds, and the stars were so beautiful. Where was the moon? Before she could find it, her view was blocked by worried Heart Pirates who were speaking a bit too fast for her brain to process.

What the hell was wrong with them? What the hell was wrong with her? Someone—Bepo, Shachi? Both?—lifted Law out, and for a moment, Nakia felt a bout of panic before remembering that they were his nakama and they probably cared about him a lot more than she did.

Penguin was peering down at her, frowning. What was wrong now? It had been such a crappy day.

His mouth was moving, but she only caught slivers of his words. "Nak...hear me...guys, I think...shock..."

Oh. Shock. Yes, that sounded right. She was in shock. That wasn't good...was it? Nah, it wasn't good. Nakia gritted her teeth and forced herself to tune it to the rest of the world.

What the hell was wrong with her? It was just a house collapsing on her. This was hardly likely to be the worst the New World had to offer. She wasn't even the one with the head wound.

"Darling," she said, voice raw even to her own ears, "get me out of here."

The Heart Pirates, who had been talking amongst themselves, snapped their heads around to stare at her. Apparently, she was meant to have lost her voice or something. Or maybe they had counted on her losing her mind.

Whatever.

She didn't care anymore.

Shachi and Bepo seemed to have disappeared, along with Law. Back to the sub then. Good, she was pretty sure he should get those wounds treated. It wouldn't do for him to die this early out. Nakia needed no more guilt in her heart.

Penguin was the first to react. He grinned roguishly, leaning down with a hand outstretched. "Grab on, Nakia-chan." There might have been a challenge in his words, but if there was, her brain was too sluggish to comprehend it. Not that it mattered.

It hurt to move, but damn that. Reaching up, Nakia clasped his hand with hers and felt the burn of the cuts at last. She ignored them. He lugged her into a sitting position, and she could feel the wind ruffling her hair again.

Strange. She couldn't have been under for more than twenty minutes, but she had forgotten what fresh air tasted like. Beyond the rubble of the house, she could see the lights of the town glittering, the peacefulness of the night unshaken.

"Hold on," Penguin instructed and grabbed her under her armpits. Lifting her out of the goddamn hole with ease, he set her on her feet on a smooth slab of rock and then had to steady her when she swayed. "Woah! Careful there."

Nakia shook her head, blood-damp hair flying. She tried to concentrate and came up with, "Did anyone dig up my shoes?"

* * *

As it turned out, yes, they had. Well, they decided to after they heard that their Captain's nodachi and hat were entombed with her shoes. Actually, they most likely just wanted the nodachi and hat, and the shoes came as an unwanted bonus.

Oh well. Details weren't her forte most of the time, and especially not after getting buried under a damn house.

Nakia's poor shoes hadn't survived, of course, but it was the principle of the matter. All good shoes deserved a good burial.

She walked all the way back to the sub, disregarding Penguin's offer to carry her. Kaperin glaring death daggers at her; she didn't need any more evidence that she was weaker than she needed to be. Not that she wasn't, but they didn't need to know that.

Every step was agony. There was somehow cuts on her feet, her legs, her arms, _and_ her hands. She had no idea how they got there, but they were there, and they wanted to stay. Her dress was ruined, as she had sadly expected, and torn, streaked with blood, dust, and grime, and more black than white.

But, hey, at least that meant more shopping for Nakia.

That wasn't accounting for the countless bruises forming on her skin and the stones underfoot that existed to aggravate her. Nakia gritted her teeth, swore colorfully inside her head, and made not a sound. Thankfully, crumbling building or not, it was nighttime and the streets were empty.

No one to stare at the walk of shame.

Well, not townspeople. The majority of the Heart Pirates were trying to glare a hole through her, particularly Kaperin, but Nakia had elevated the act of ignorance to an art form during her teenage years, and it was easy to pretend they didn't exist.

No one made make a move in any case...until they arrived at the submarine.

Penguin had opened the door for her and Nakia had stepped below deck when the brutal silence was broken. She couldn't have said she was surprised. Kaperin was the one who stepped forward and right into her space, indirectly forcing Nakia back against the wall.

Well, well.

Nakia just stared mutely at him. There was probably a stereotype about violent pirates she could name right now. She supposed she should have expected this. At least the submarine wouldn't try and collapse on her. She hoped.

"You know," Kaperin said softly, "I could kill you right now." Yes, yes, he could. He was stronger than she was. She knew; did he think she didn't know? Was he really attempting to intimidate her?

Law was better at it. He was also bleeding and unconscious. Hell.

"Well? Don't you have anything to say?! You nearly got our Captain killed!" Law wasn't dead yet. Didn't he know that was the important part?

"Don't exaggerate, honey," Nakia said, and her voice came out like a needle formed of ice. "If he died from that, he's not fit to be the Captain."

Kaperin's face darkened like a storm cloud, and his hands clenched tightly at his sides. "How _dare_ you have the _nerve_ to talk like that when it's your damn fault this happened in the first place?"

She knew her make-up had disappeared, her dress was torn, and her high heels broken. It made her feel exposed, open, vulnerable. Regardless, even if Nakia might be weaker than the lot of them, she wasn't _weak_.

She couldn't have survived her childhood if she had been; she wouldn't have been able to stand up to Trafalgar Law.

So she met his eyes without flinching and smiled sickly-sweet. "Sorry, I thought that I was meant to be the honeytrap, not the housewife. Do you want me on my knees, too?"

Gasps and mutters sounded up and down the hallway everyone had crowded into. The fist Kaperin hurled into the steel inches from Nakia's face rustled a few strands of brown hair but didn't touch her.

"Kaperin!" Shachi cut in sharply, but they both ignored him.

"You're a _bitch,_ you know that?" Kaperin sneered harshly. "Can you even do anything besides mouth off and get in trouble!? Don't think that just because Captain endures your presence, you can do whatever you want—"

"And how are you going to stop me? Are you going to lock me in my room? Are you going to handcuff me? Or," she lowered her voice to a suggestive, mocking whisper, "are you going to have your way with me against this very wall?"

Kaperin backed up so fast it was as if the very air she breathed was suddenly poison. His face held disgust, only disgust. "Fuck. How many, _how many_ , men have you ruined?"

Nakia smirked and placed a hand on her hip, posing seductively. "Oh, too many to count, sweetie, but as I recall, that's _exactly_ why your Captain hired me. Are we done here?" She wanted to take a shower and sleep forever.

"Like hell! It's your damn fault Captain is in the operating theatre! If you hadn't made the brilliant decision to go off and be a conceited bitch, this never would have happened! Fuck, at least own up to your mistakes!"

She knew his kind. Kaperin was a man of morals. He valued honor, was one of those so-called virtuous, upright types who discreetly viewed hookers with pity, discomfort, and, on occasion, disdain, but he wasn't the type of hit women.

But she would be the first to admit she was a bitch. She wasn't here to make friends, she wasn't here to play nice. She was here to fulfill her goals, and _that was it_.

Nakia sighed condescendingly. "Pointing fingers is a juvenile move, dearest. I'm done here." She began to walk down the hallway, taking no notice of the blood she was trailing on the floor.

Behind her, she left a baffled silence. A silence that screamed infuriated disbelief, but that _—_ that was what she wanted, right? With every step, spikes of pain shot up her spine, but she kept walking, kept moving. This wasn't her problem, wasn't her deal.

So what if it was her fault? So what if she had almost killed Trafalgar Law? He wasn't _her_ Captain.

There had been so much blood.

Stopping at the corner, she gripped the wall. Her hand shook. _It was her fault that he had bled._

Nakia turned her head to see the group of Heart Pirates watching her with accusing eyes and let her smile drop. "But I am sorry that I almost took your Captain away." For once, quiet sincerity rang in her tone and she saw the surprise on their faces before she turned and left.

_"You're terrible at apologies, Miss Nakia..."_

* * *

Nakia got to her room at last and locked the door behind her. Stripping off what remained of her dress, she walked straight into the shower cubicle and turned the water to hot. Too hot. She didn't notice.

She stood there for long, endless moments and watched the blood flow into the drain. Some of it was hers, but most of it wasn't. The water was pink with it, an oddly pretty color. She hadn't seen this much blood since...

_"Poor girl, I heard that she had lost 29% of her blood by the time the doctors got to her."_

_"Any more and she would have died, right?"_

_"Yeah, without an immediate blood transfusion."_

_"Her mother wasn't so lucky...I heard she went into a coma, poor dear..."_

She turned the water to ice-cold and stood in the spray for a minute. When she was shivering, she turned the water off and dried herself with a towel. Walking to the mirror, she inspected her face. Nakia had been lucky; she was always lucky.

The people around her weren't.

There wasn't much damage to her face. The bruises were light, would heal in a few days. Most of the bruises were on her legs, although Law had taken the brunt of it. If those rocks had fallen on her, Nakia knew that she would have been far more injured than Law had been.

It wasn't merely that he was stronger than she was, had more endurance. Her inner organs were more fragile than his were, were injured easier. It was an unfortunate consequence of the incident that had practically killed her.

Bruises aside, cuts were everywhere.

Walking mechanically into her room to sit on her bed, she reached for the bandages that she had taken earlier. They were just cuts, she didn't need to go see the Doctor later...well, once he was bandaged up himself.

Wrapping up the largest ones, she fell back and closed her eyes.

It was so cold.

That night, Nakia dreamed of the nightmare that had haunted her for over a decade.

* * *

_"Tou-san?" the child whispered, looking around for her daddy. But he wasn't there. Where had he gone?_

_A low chuckle came from the shadows, pairs of eyes glinting in the darkness. "Daddy isn't here, little girl."_

_No, no, no... "Kaa-chan?"_ _Nakia looked around for her mommy. Where was she? Had she left, too?_

_Was she alone?_

_"Over here, little girl. Over here," came the sinister whispers, the darkness pressing closer._

_The child shook her head and ran. She ran and ran and ran, but the eyes followed her, wouldn't leave her alone. "Tou-san! Kaa-chan!" Where were her parents? She wanted her mommy and daddy._

_She was scared._

_"Nakia..."_

_The little girl knew that voice. "Kaa-chan!" Turning a corner in the world that had been her home since childhood but now felt more like a cage, Nakia smiled in relief. She had found her mommy!_

_Kaa-chan would protect her, fight against the darkness, make everything go away._

_She screeched to a halt and saw the blood. It was everywhere. There was a still figure on the ground. She was lying still, so still, and her legs weren't supposed to bend that way, and that was—!_

_"KAA-CHAN!"_

_Laughter in the shadows, black-clad men surrounding her and her beaten mother. "Don't you cry, little girl. She's still alive."_

_"Nakia..." Umeko whispered, blood bubbling in her mouth. "Run..."_

_The child whimpered, small body shaking. She tried to do as her mother said, tried to run, but she couldn't move. It was so cold._

_"Come on, little girl, let's have some fun..."_

_Nakia looked up into the hungry eyes and knew the darkness had found her._

* * *

She jerked awake in savage silence, petrified scream stifled in her pillow. Nakia had made it a habit to never make a sound during one of her nightmares. It was a requirement of living in a brothel, where dozens of people would be startled awake and none too happy about it.

Nakia stayed motionless for a minute, focusing on getting her breathing and heart rate under control. Finally, she sighed and sat up, running a hand through her hair. A layer of cold sweat had broken out over her skin. The cuts stung, but she forced the pain out of her mind. It wasn't important.

She hadn't had a nightmare since she had taken up residence in the submarine.

Nothing lasted forever, she mused. Not the good, not the bad.

Nakia strode into the bathroom, ignoring the cuts on her feet as well, and splashed cold water on her face. The bruises were starting to show, not that she cared at the moment. It was easy enough to slather on enough concealer to make them disappear. For good measure, she plastered on a deep red lipstick as a diversion.

Upon flinging herself back into bed, this time dressed in a tight black lace number and black stockings, Nakia glanced absently at her window. And blinked when she was met with inky darkness instead of blazing sunshine.

They had submerged during the night. She considered that for a moment before shrugging. Ambience Island would have gotten on her nerves anyway, after all that had happened. But now...she had to figure out her priorities. It wasn't difficult.

One, was to avoid several people. Namely, Law and Kaperin. The former because she had enough guilt without dealing with him and the latter because he reminded her that some people actually expected her to have ethnics and integrity, and she didn't want to deal with that either.

(Sometimes, when Nakia sat down with the wind in her hair and silence ringing in her ears, she acknowledged to herself that she had problems. There was toeing the line and then there was crossing the line. There was being ruthless and then there was being a manipulative psychopath _._ )

Two, was to distance herself from the Heart Pirates. Yesterday had destroyed her plan of being seen as the flirtatious but harmless prostitute on board, tempting but self-obsessed, vain but helpful, friendly but air-headed, so she might as well go with it. So long as they didn't bother her.

(Sometimes, when Nakia properly took a look at herself and the people around her, she wondered if she should go to a psychiatrist or something. There was trust issues, and then there was pushing everyone away automatically. There was paranoia and then there was being a conspiracy theorist.)

Three, was to snap out of whatever self-pity fest she had somehow fallen into without realizing it. Yeah, she had gotten buried beneath a collapsing building, but she had survived. Moreover, she hadn't gotten killed via pirates, and no one else had died yet. No need to be dramatic.

(Sometimes, when Nakia wanted to be particularly depressing and pathetic, she let herself think of her mother and father. There was a lying, alcoholic, destructive man and then there was a silent grave. There was a busy, salacious, powerless, flighty woman and then there was a comatose patient.)

Nakia blew out a breath and closed her eyes briefly. Swinging her legs off the bed, she shrugged on the leather jacket and put on the nude pumps. Glancing herself over, she nodded approvingly. No cuts showing and bruises were mostly covered up.

Shoving the sheathed dagger into her inner pocket—she really needed a proper holster soon—she sauntered to the door and set off for the mess hall.

Normally, Shachi, Penguin, or Bepo would come wake her up around noon. She knew the way by now, but she rarely woke up on her own. In contrast, today, she would estimate that it was still well before ordinary breakfast time and she was alone.

Excellent.

* * *

Bepo had barely gotten started on his breakfast when Nakia walked into the mess hall.

He was surprised. Nakia _never_ ate breakfast. She sometimes didn't even eat lunch and yelled at him when he went to wake her up. It wasn't very mean yelling, but she was still grumpy. He knew she didn't like people interrupting her sleep in the early morning.

Shachi had gotten slapped for that once. His cheek had swelled up and he had needed ice and everything.

Bepo tilted his head to the side in confusion as the pretty female walked in her usual strange fashion—in a really straight line, back perfectly straight, hips swaying unnecessarily—to the galley, the clatter of her high heels loud in the swift silence.

Not long later, the whispers started.

"Who does she think she is?"

"Is the Captain—"

"He's still out."

"I hope he kicks her out the second he wakes up."

"I hope he does it literally."

When Nakia walked back out with her breakfast, a mildly vacant smile on her face, the whispers went softer but didn't stop. Bepo frowned, pushing his breakfast back and forth on his plate with his fork. He knew about the fight from yesterday because Penguin had told him, but he didn't think the situation would be this bad.

Nakia was the one who had kept Captain awake as long as he was after all. Bepo would know, after all, since he was a polar bear and had a polar bear's acute hearing.

She slid into her seat and smiled prettily at him. "Good morning, darling."

"Good morning, Nakia-chan." Bepo wasn't sure about the pet names, but she called everyone by those—even Captain, which was very brave of her—so he just ignored it.

Nakia didn't say anything more but started to quietly eat her breakfast. Bepo's frown deepened. She wasn't normally this quiet. Was something wrong? The bear took a subtle sniff and widened his eyes. "Nakia-chan, you smell of blood."

She went very still for a second, the kind of still prey went when they saw a predator, but then she was smiling easily at him. "Don't worry about it, sweetie. It's not mine."

She was lying. Bepo was certain he had smelled her blood. There was a little of Captain's blood, too, but most of it was hers. Maybe it was a human female thing? He didn't know, so he nodded and said, "Okay."

Nakia ate really fast. She was done before Bepo had eaten half of his. She got up and smiled that smile at him again, a bit kindly, a bit distantly, a bit sweetly. "I'll see you later, darling."

And then she was gone.

Bepo shook his head, confused. But Captain walked in ten minutes later and he forgot all about Nakia.

* * *

Law woke up to a massive headache. It felt like jackhammers pounding in his skull, and the dull ache in his back did little to help matters. He momentarily thought about simply going back to sleep but he must have made some sort of noise, because he heard a shuffle as someone came to stand next to his bed.

"Captain?" That was Penguin's voice, he thought groggily. He sounded worried.

Damn, he had to stay conscious. Sighing, Law managed to lift up his eyelids with superhuman effort and found himself staring at the white of a pillow case. The hell? Searching his memory for explanations, he got flashes of pain, glass, turquoise...

Ah.

"I'm up," he said to Penguin, struggling into a sitting position. It hurt like a motherfucker, but Law saw no need to concern his nakama any further. Sure enough, by the time he succeeded, there was a frown on Penguin's face, not that he had made the mistake of trying to help.

Law mentally evaluated himself. There didn't appear to be shards of glass in his back, his head wasn't bleeding, and his bare chest was wrapped in bandages. Lovely. "How was the damage?"

"Not as bad as we thought," Shachi said as he walked in. He had a relieved grin on his face. "Damn if there wasn't a shitload of crap in you though, Captain."

"Mm," he acknowledged, trying to piece together a complete picture of what had happened. The fucking building had crumbled, they had been trapped under, and Nakia... "Miss Nakia?"

Injured he might be, but Law didn't miss the glance his mechanics exchanged. "She's fine," Penguin weakly promised, face carefully neutral. "She's probably asleep in her room right now."

He was no fool. "What happened?"

 _"You need to be alive when your nakama get us out,"_ Nakia had said back under the rubble. She had been worried that his crewmates would turn on her should he be out. He couldn't refute her point; she was an outsider and he was the Captain.

"This one is all yours, Pen," Shachi muttered, sitting down on an empty table and crossing his arms.

Penguin sighed and scratched his head. "Nakia-chan and Kaperin got in a fight when we got back to the sub."

Law wasn't surprised. Kaperin had been from a middle-class family that traditionally looked down on things like the Akasen, and he'd had trouble accepting Nakia from the start. Law getting injured would have set him off. "Who won?"

The startled looks on their made it clear they hadn't considered the question before. "Hard to say," Penguin said, brow furrowing. "Nakia-chan tore Kaperin to pieces—God, but that woman can be vicious—but Kaperin actually got her to apologize."

His interest was officially perked. It had taken a dragged-out shouting match, being buried alive under a building, and ending up with an unconscious Law for Nakia to make a half-hearted attempt at an apology, and even then, it had been driven by panic. "Give me the details."

Penguin gave him a play-by-play of the fight, with Shachi adding in bits and pieces he had forgotten during the night. By the time they were done, Law's headache had evolved into a full-fledged migraine. "Shit. Kaperin's going to be holding a grudge." Somewhat sincere apology or not.

"And Nakia-chan'll probably stab a knife into his back if he ever does try anything," Shachi added. Flirting or not, he had always been mindful of Nakia's true colors.

"Looks like a clusterfuck," Penguin said gloomily. "Fuck the circumstances, neither of them are the type to back down."

"Yeah." And yet, he thought, it was interesting to observe what Nakia had admitted during that fight. She hadn't argued against the accusation that the entire fiasco had been her fault, nor had she tried to argue that she wasn't a bitch.

A jaded realist, as he had noted when they had first met.

But then, where was the woman who had snapped at him not to order her around and stroked his hair comfortingly while her own panic was a scream beneath her skin?

Law sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Grabbing a hoodie, he tugged it on. "Where's my hat? And Kikoku?"

Shachi handed him the spotted wool keeper. Penguin handed him the nodachi.

The Surgeon put on his hat, rested his nodachi against his shoulder, and stood up. "I want breakfast."

Shachi and Penguin grinned widely, eyes lighting up.

* * *

The moment Law walked into the mess hall, the place went ghost-quiet.

He waited patiently, knowing of what was to come.

And sure enough, the very next second, the hall exploded with noise. The Heart Pirates surged out of their seats to bunch up around Law, talking and smiling and generally expressing their relief that their Captain was fine.

' _Honestly_ ,' Law thought fondly to himself, lips twitching, ' _how did I end up with a crew this easily excitable?_ ' It was in direct contrast to his own personality, not that he would trade them for anything.

Surprisingly, it was Tara who brought up the white elephant in the room. The lad frowned, lines appearing between his eyebrows as he blurted out, "Captain, what'll happen to Nakia-san?"

Everyone else instantly shut up. The tension levels in the room rose almost visibly and frowns quickly replaced grins. It was obvious that Hexi Nakia was currently a highly controversial topic within the crew and a matter that needed addressing immediately.

"She stays." Law's tone was calm but defied disobedience.

Kaperin scowled thunderously. "She's trouble."

"She's useful," he corrected, moving to take a seat at his usual spot. His nakama followed him, forming a circle around the senior table while Shachi, Penguin, and Bepo sat down as well.

"She got you hurt," Kaperin countered, crossing his arms stubbornly.

Law couldn't deny that, but—"She also got me out of there," he reminded the crew. "She was the one who staunched the head wound so it wasn't as bad as it could have been."

Kaperin hesitated, obviously not having considered the situation in such a light. From the sounds of it, Nakia hadn't made much of an effort to bring it up. "She's still a bitch," he muttered, but he had lost the majority of his steam.

"Her personality holds no bearing on her position here," Law said firmly. "Miss Nakia stays, and I don't want to hear of any incidents involving her, am I clear?"

There was a whiny chorus of positives, though some participants were obviously hesitant to agree. Law nodded, satisfied. "Good. Now someone get me breakfast. I'm starving here."

Now all that was left, Law thought to himself while Tara went to go get his meal and the rest of the crew went back to their own breakfasts, was to talk to Miss Nakia herself.

* * *

Nakia was hella determined, had plenty of experience, and happened to be a user of Observation Haki.

(Not that she had recalled that last little fact in her foray under the remains of a building, but she was sure that had just been because of the stress.)

I was no big deal to complete priority number one, a.k.a. avoid Law and Kaperin like her life depended on it. Which it might, she didn't know.

It wasn't easy, it wasn't simple, but she did it.

According to Bepo during one of their training sessions— he was still kicking her ass, to her annoyance—they would arrive at the next island, Zalst, in five days. That had been a day ago.

Nakia lay on her bed and wondered if she was going to go bat-shit insane. There was only so much staring she could do at her very blank ceiling before she got bored. Sadly, Haki or not, there was too much risk in wandering the submarine aimlessly.

There hadn't actually been a great deal of aggression directed towards her —perhaps Law had something to do with that—but her wariness knew no boundaries. It would be incredibly easy for someone to off her in this place.

And, her lips twisted into a bitter smile, no one would bother to mourn her, that she was definitely sure of. She would die alone...a recompense for her sins maybe, but Nakia had never pretended she was pure, no matter what her name suggested.

She sighed and let her eyes rove around her room for the hundredth time in the past hour. For God's sake, why was everything so _dull_? She was totally convincing Law to let her take a shopping trip on the next island. Once she stopped avoiding him.

Really, this was sad.

Nakia got up and started to pace. Most of her cuts were healing fine. The ones on her legs were acting weird, but she just let it be. Two minutes later, she decided to talk the risk and walked out the door. Lunchtime had passed, but...

She poked her head in the galley. "Darling?"

Kamaya looked up. The middle-aged cook of the Heart Pirates was a man with a quirky mustache and curly brown hair. He wore a small yellow hat on his head and was up to his elbows in suds.

Nakia hadn't talked to him much—hah, she didn't talk to any of the pirates much—but when she came in for meals, he had always been gruffly amiable. "Hello, lass. Need anything?"

Nakia smiled and stepped in, blinking innocently. "I was wondering if I could do anything. Wash the dishes, perhaps?"

Kamaya gave her a look that said her docile act wasn't working. "Why?"

She sighed drearily, pouting. "There really isn't a lot for me to do here when we're not on an island. I'm bored and thought that you might have some work for me. I've seen how those boys eat." Mostly truths. Or implied lies.

He assessed her for a long moment and then pointed at a sink. "Get to work."

Nakia grinned triumphantly.

* * *

Law _would_ have liked to talk to Nakia. Unfortunately, she didn't appear to share the sentiment.

Three days after he had woken up in his theatre, Law tilted his chair back and stared absently at the ceiling. It would be another three days before they set foot on the next island, and so far, he hadn't seen so much as a hair of the woman.

She came for meals earlier than he did, left before he arrived. She blockaded herself in her room for hours at a time and the list of people she talked to in any one day kept getting shorter, an impressive achievement considering how short the list had been already.

Nakia might as well be a ghost on his sub.

A ghost he needed to track down before they arrived at Zalst Island.

Which was why Law deemed it time he go and visit the one individual she seemed to be conversing with the most.

Sighing, he stood up. The majority of his wounds were healing well, though he kept finding random shards of glass in his back. His crew had done their best, but he was the surgeon after all.

Making his way to the galley with his customary confidence, he leaned against the doorway of Kamaya's domain and waited.

Three seconds later, the cook put down the spinach he had been washing and dried his hands on his apron. Turning to face Law, he said with a thoughtful frown, "I thought this might be coming."

Law motioned for them to continue their conversation in the empty mess hall. "Miss Nakia is a puzzling woman."

"That she is." Sitting down next to Law in a random seat, Kamaya tugged at one end of his mustache. "Ask your questions, Captain."

"I've heard that she's been coming into the galley and spending copious amounts of time with you." Odd on its own.

The older man grunted. "Gossipy lads. The lass has been coming in before or after mealtimes. She says she's bored and wants something to do."

"What do you think?" His nakama could think for themselves, were all fiercely intelligent in their own ways.

Kamaya's gaze was solemn. "I think she's lonely."

Law was momentarily speechless. Of all the motives he had suspected, loneliness had never crossed his mind. It seemed so unlike the woman. "Why?"

The cook's sigh was heavy. "Think 'bout it, Captain. She's a young lass who's been dumped on a submarine. We all could throw her further than we trust her and vice versa. No one with a brain would let her into the control room to see Shachi, Penguin, or Bepo. She doesn't want to talk to you. I'm the easy one."

Damn. Now that Kamaya had put it like that, Law could see it making sense. "Why you?"

"Humph. Half of the lads in the crew want her for her body and the other half want her blood," Kamaya pointed out. "I'm a forty-five year old man. Hitting on her would feel like pedophilia, and I don't want to cause her any harm. Why _not_ me?"

"I see." A beat while Law considered his crewmate's words. "Is there anything else you can tell me regarding Miss Nakia?"

"Two things. One, are you planning to break her, Captain?" Blunt words, steely gaze.

"No." Nakia would be of no use to him broken.

Kamaya shook his head. "The lass is currently mostly isolated, dwelling in a volatile area, and weaker than the rest of us. Now, I don't know any psychology shit, but I know that ain't healthy."

"She's not that weak." Nakia certainly hadn't snapped when they had nearly been crushed.

"Nah, but everyone has their breaking point."

Law acknowledged his point with a nod. "And two?"

"Be careful, Captain. That lass..." The cook shook his head, eyes troubled. "She might be lonely and beautiful, but...reckless people tend to do the most stupid things."

* * *

Nakia fell hard on the wooden floor she was starting to know better than the palm of her hand and bit her lip to suppress a small scream. She had landed primarily on the side of her leg and it _hurt_.

She was really starting to have second thoughts about those cuts. While the rest of the scratches and bruises over her body had generally faded away to the point that many no longer hurt, the ones on her legs remained stubborn.

They had scabbed over, but pushing on them even slightly was painful. They were also a bit raised and pink. She had taken to wearing stockings under a lot of her dresses to hide the marks, but it did nothing to prevent the pain they caused.

Naturally, falling on those same cuts with her entire body weight behind it hurt like a son of a bitch.

"Nakia-chan?" Bepo knelt next to her, dark eyes wide with worry. "Are you okay?"

"Ahh... Yeah, I'm fine." Nakia maneuvered herself into a sitting position, careful to not press her legs against the floor.

"Maybe you should have Captain take a look at you," the bear suggested, frowning. "You smell like pain and blood."

Damn animal senses. "I'm fine."

But Bepo had already gently grabbed her arm with a paw. "Come on, he's probably in the theatre."

"Darling, I'm _fine_."

"Nakia-chan..."

"Sweetie..."

"Nakia-chan."

"Honey-pie."

A few seconds later, the few Heart Pirates lingering in the hallways were shortly treated to a performance of watching their resident polar bear drag their resident hooker through the halls bodily.

"This place just keeps on getting weirder," Tara muttered, nibbling on a snack he had conned from Kamaya.

* * *

Law glanced up and stared blandly as Bepo lugged Nakia into the room, the former looking concerned and the latter looking disgruntled. Well. It looked like he wouldn't have to track down Miss Nakia after all, if his navigator had done so for him.

"A problem, Bepo?"

"Nakia-chan is in pain," the bear said simply and then, after hauling said woman into the room, left.

There was a heartbeat of awkward silence as Law and Nakia gazed vacantly at each other. It was abruptly broken when Nakia spun on her heel and made for the door, apparently in no mood to deal with him.

"Not so fast, Miss Nakia," Law chided, springing forward and blocking her way to the entrance before she could escape. She went motionless. "What was Bepo referring to?"

Nakia sighed. "Nothing. I'm fine."

At that, he smiled lazily and shoved his hands into his pockets. Really, how lenient did she think he was? "Bullshit. Talk."

She shot him an irked look. "Must you snap out orders, darling?"

"I wouldn't have to if you would talk without me ordering you to."

Her eyes darted to the ajar door behind him. Eyebrows raising, Law turned around and closed the door firmly. "Don't even think about it."

"Too late," she threw his words right back at him. "Let me leave, sweetheart."

"No." Law crossed his arms coolly. "Not until you explain to me why you're in pain."

Fleetingly, Nakia looked exasperated enough to hurl something at him. Law simply smirked and wordlessly dared her to go ahead.

She made a face, shoulders slumping. Shaking her head, Nakia consented enough to take a seat on an operating table. "It's nothing complicated. The cuts on my legs aren't healing well, that's all."

Law narrowed his eyes and pushed off the door to sit in his chair. "Why is it that this is the first time I've heard of these cuts, Miss Nakia? You must have gotten them four days ago."

"They're _cuts_ , darling. There was no reason to bother you with them."

"Oh, but I disagree." His smile had a bit too much teeth to be considered friendly. "I'm the doctor here, Miss Nakia."

"Do you want to hear about this or not?" She massaged her temple with two fingers. Headache? He had one, too.

"Go on."

"The other cuts—"

" _Other_ cuts?" he cut in with a dangerous frown.

Her temple massaging got more vigorous. "Will you let me finish?"

Temper, temper. He gestured for her to continue.

"Like I was saying before _someone_ interrupted, the other cuts are pretty much healed. The ones on my legs aren't." She glared at him as if it were his fault.

Law glanced at her black stockings. "I need to see."

One slender eyebrow rose and she made a twirling movement with her finger. "Unless you want a private peep show, gorgeous. It'll cost you around fifteen thousand."

He spun around and stared at the wall, mentally reciting all the bones and muscles in the arm, then the leg.

"Done," came the call several minutes later.

Law turned cautiously and found Nakia sitting on the edge of the bed, black stockings folded neatly next to her and black stilettos on the floor. He hissed in a breath when he caught his first look at her legs.

Lines of red, slightly raised, were all over her pale skin, like some macabre artwork. Grabbing her ankle lightly, he braced her foot on his knee and bent closer to inspect the cuts.

They looked infected, but other than that, he couldn't think of a reason for them to cause enough pain for Bepo to pick up on it. Law pressed a finger to one of the larger ones without warning and heard Nakia suck in a breath.

"They hurt worse than the other cuts, don't they?"

"Mm-hm."

Law frowned and sat back. Could it be...? Propelling himself back and giving Nakia back her leg, he snatched up a scalpel, magnifying glass and tweezers, snapping on medical gloves.

When he rolled back over to her and took her ankle once more, Nakia eyed him warily. "Should I be worried?"

He smirked absently, attention on her leg and didn't answer. But... "This'll hurt."

She covered a yawn pointedly.

Law chuckled and in one smooth move, broke the scab on a cut with his scalpel. Her leg jolted slightly, but she otherwise made no move or sound. Bringing the magnifying glass to his eye, he searched the new wound for a glint...aha.

Digging around with the tweezers, he pulled back and held up his prize.

Nakia stared at the tiny sliver of glass blankly. "That was _in_ me?" She sounded mildly horrified.

He raised an eyebrow. "Now do you understand why you go to me whenever you get hurt?"

She utterly disregarded that to look at her legs. "Does that mean I have to endure that on every cut?"

"What do you think?"

Nakia groaned and closed her eyes in horror-filled resignation.

* * *

When he was finally done plucking out the glass in each and every cut, had run an alcohol pad over her legs, and bandaged them up, Nakia blew out a breath and fell back against the table, curling up in the sheets.

Law watched her with amusement. "Tired, Miss Nakia?"

"Must you ask?" She sounded grumpy. Very grumpy.

He smirked, putting his instruments in the sink. Coming up on her right side, Law brushed a thumb over the dark circles. Nakia didn't startle but opened her eyes a fraction to look at him. "Why haven't you been sleeping well?"

"Messed up sleep cycle." She covered another delicate yawn, reminding him slightly of a sleepy kitten.

Law hummed pensively. "Why have you been avoiding me?"

Nakia pouted. "What is this? An interrogation?"

"If that's how you'd like to think about it," he said. "Answer the question, Miss Nakia."

In response, she concealed her face from him by burying into the thin pillow.

"That doesn't work if you plan on sleeping in my operating theatre," Law commented.

She mumbled something into the pillow that sounded like, "Go away, sweetheart."

"What did I say about giving me orders?" He smiled faintly, too entertained to be properly angry.

Her command was promptly changed into, "Please go away, sweetheart."

"Would you beg?" he asked randomly, recalling a blonde in a bar that he had never actually gotten around to bedding.

Nakia went very, very still and then turned her head to glare death daggers at him, obviously not at all amused.

Law's smile shifted into a smirk, unsurprised. "I need an answer, Miss Nakia."

Down went the eyelashes, hiding those bright turquoise eyes. Her rebellion was silent, though no less effective.

"Don't be stubborn," he scolded, tapping her leg on an unmarked spot. "Look where it got you last time."

She turned onto her back entirely to pout and glare at him in equal measures, a mixture of indignation and annoyance in her gaze.

His smirk only widened. "Well, Miss Nakia?"

"...I felt like it," Nakia claimed flatly.

Law snickered. Really? That was the best she could come up with? "A tsundere, are you?"

She spluttered nonsensically. Apparently, while she had been called many things, most negative, Nakia had never been called a tsundere. "W-What?"

"It makes sense," he said sedately. "You do have a bad habit of flirting and then slapping men. As well as acting intimate and then ignoring them."

Nakia could only stare bemusedly at him, flailing her arms slightly. Her mouth opened, but closed without getting a word out.

"Speechless, Miss Nakia?" he goaded gleefully, intrigued by the faint pink of her cheeks.

She shook her head. "...I don't like you," Nakia managed in the end, pout intensifying.

Law couldn't help it. It was the sleep deprivation, he knew, that was weakening her defenses to this extent, but the helpless way she said it, the utter puzzlement in her eyes, the way her composure had all but dissolved at her feet...

He laughed an open, thoroughly genuine laugh, had the pleasure of seeing her blush harder.

"Don't laugh at me!" she protested, but then she was smiling as well, with a roll of her eyes.

He shook his head, smirking broadly. "And you say you're not a tsundere."

"I'm not!"

"Sure."

"Oh, shut up."

"Manners, Miss Nakia."

"You're one to talk."

* * *

 _She wore her scars as her best attire. A stunning dress made of hellfire._ — _Daniel Saint_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Although Nakia is very good at acting, this girl has a hell of a lot of problems, as she half-heartedly admits in this chapter. And, well, she does have her reasons, but this is why she has a tendency to grab the Idiot Ball and run with it.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos keep my muse happy~
> 
> [Tumblr](https://opalescentgold.tumblr.com/).


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